Oertel, Johannes Adam Simon, 1823-1909

Johannes Adam Simon Oertel, artist and Episcopal clergyman, was born in Bavaria and came to the United States in 1848. In 1851, he married Julia Adelaide Torrey (d. 1907), with whom he had four children. His works include decorations for the ceiling of the House of Representatives in the Capitol in Washington, D.C.; "Rock of Ages," which was widely circulated in reproduction; and many religious paintings and wood carvings for churches. Oertel served as rector in Lenoir and Morganton, N.C.; Glen Cove, N.Y.; and Emmorton, Md.; and briefly operated a sawmill in Orange Springs, Fla. From 1895 to 1902, he painted a series of large canvases collectively called "Redemption," which he considered his highest achievement.

Johannes Adam Simon Oertel (1823-1909), artist and Episcopal clergyman, was born in Furth, Bavaria, the son of Thomas Friedrich Oertel, a metal worker, and Maria Magdalena Mennensdörfer Oertel. Early in life, he dedicated himself to the church and began studies with a Lutheran clergyman, expecting to become a foreign missionary. In the course of his studies, however, he apparently revealed such talent for drawing that his teacher urged him to study art. He became the pupil of J. M. Enzing Müller, an engraver, with whom he spent some time in Munich.

In 1848, Oertel came to the United States and settled in Newark, N.J., where he was soon joined by his parents and two brothers. Oertel's brother Thomas Frederick was also called Fritz. In Newark, Oretel gave lessons in drawing, and, in 1851, married Julia Adelaide Torrey (d. 1907), with whom he had four children: Mary Magdalena (b. 1852), called Lena; John Frederick (b. 1856), called Fritz or Fred; Samuel Philip, who was born and died in 1859; and Theodore Eugene (b. 1864), called Eugene. In the winter following his marriage, Oertel made sketches for a series of four large paintings illustrating the concept of redemption. Thereafter, he looked upon the completion of these paintings as his life work. For the next fifty years, Oertel struggled, usually with little success, to earn enough money to keep his family sheltered and fed and himself out of debt to framers and suppliers of artists' materials so that he might pursue the Redemption project.

From 1852 to 1857, Oertel made steel engravings for banknotes, painted portraits, and even colored photographs. In 1857 and 1858, he designed the decorations for the ceiling of the House of Representatives in the Capitol in Washington, D.C. For a few months in 1862, he lived with the Army of the Potomac, gathering material for several war paintings. In the 1860s, at Westerly, R.I., he painted a picture first called Saved, or an Emblematic Representation of Christian Faith, which came to be widely known in reproductions as Rock of Ages. A large number of photographs and lithographs of this work were sold, bringing the publisher a handsome income in royalties. Because of errors in the copyright papers, however, Oertel only shared in profits from Rock of Ages for the first few years of publication.

Oertel had been confirmed in the Episcopal Church in 1852, and, at Westerly, occasionally acted as a lay reader. In 1867, he was admitted to deacon's orders. Two years later, he moved to Lenoir, N.C., where he assumed charge of a rural church and two mission stations and founded a school for girls. In 1871, he was ordained as a priest. He remained in Lenoir until 1876, and then lived in New York City; Glen Cove, N.Y.; and Morganton, N.C. In each of these places, he tried to combine art with ministry. After serving as rector in Morganton, he spent a year in Orange Springs, Fla., this time trying to combine church and art work and the business of running a sawmill. Having failed in all three ventures, he returned to Lenoir and then lived for various periods in Washington, D.C.; Sewanee and Nashville, Tenn.; and St. Louis, Mo., where he was instructor in fine arts at Washington University from 1889 to 1891.

The last eighteen years of his life were spent near Washington, D.C. For a while, he took charge of the church at Emmorton, Md. In 1895, his sons finally having relieved him of the necessity for gaining a livelihood, he began at last to paint the first picture of the Redemption series, which he called The Dispensations of Promise and the Law. This painting was followed by The Redeemer, The Dispensation of the Holy Spirit, and The Consummation of Redemption. The last of these paintings was completed in 1902. Reluctant to break up the set of four, Oertel declined a $10,000 offer for The Dispensations of Promise and the Law. He later gave the series to the University of the South, from which he received the D.D. degree in 1902. After this, he lived with his son in Vienna, Va., where he painted prolifically. In 1906 and 1907, he produced the paintings and designed the woodwork for the reredos of the Cathedral at Quincy, Ill. He died in Vienna at the age of 86.

While serving the church and teaching, Oertel always considered religious art his chief vocation, and his paintings and ecclesiastical wood carvings were his principal means of support. Many times, however, financial considerations forced him to abandon religious art for painting portraits and pictures of animals, which were usually more profitable.

Known chiefly as an excellent draftsman, Oertel sometimes painted in monochrome, although, in his later years, he made good use of color, especially in the Redemption series. His paintings are to be seen in churches in New York City; Glen Cove, N.Y.; Lenoir, N.C.; St. Louis, Mo.; Jackson, Tenn.; Emmorton and Belair, Md.; and Washington, D.C. In many instances, these paintings are accompanied by the elaborate wood carvings Oertel also produced. Among his many carvings, an especially notable work is his altar and reredos for the Church of the Incarnation in Washington, D.C.

(This biographical note is based on the note in the Dictionary of American Biography, Volume XIII.)