A bride for a varnished clock shield by Heinrich Rudolf

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"And the French" replied his colleague just as loud, "have now large enamel dials on their home clocks and they remain white forever”. ”Our Black Forest clocks can not compete with these” a clock trader had to admit, ”the paper dials turn yellow, become uneven and the colors fade”.

Laurenz listened carefully. One sentence remained with him: "They remain white forever”. On his way home his thoughts turned around a new shield, which could not be made of varnished metal or even of porcelain enamel since it would be much too expensive – a Black Forest clock had to be cheaper. The only remaining material would be wood, but instead of the expensive lime wood the carvers used, it would have to be the cheap spruce wood.

Now the three hardest years in the life of Laurenz Winterhalder began. In his sparse free time he conducted test after test. Progress was not in sight for a long time. His wooden shields cracked, the wood could not be combined with the chalk surface, varnish particles came off, the colors lost their brightness. The worst experience was however that the initially light white turned soon into an ugly yellow. Laurenz found support from his friend, a clock shield maker who at first had lend him some sample shields. Padre Joseph of the Saint Peter monastery taught him the drawing. Sometimes he even received some free color samples, since some kind of coloring was always going on in the monastery. Abbot Steyrer was also very understanding when it came to the worries of a young skilled worker. and of course Theresa encouraged him whenever he was tired of this seemingly useless grind.

But finally his clock shield looked like something! When one afternoon Laurenz appeared in front of the neighbor house with a bundle under his arm, the farmer’s wife knew instantly that this was a special day. Very calmly Laurenz replaced the dirty and faded paper shield of the clock in the room with his own varnish shield. The difference was remarkable – almost as if someone had switched on a light in the room. The farmer’s wife served him a ham sandwich and poured even a second glass of spirit for him while saying: ”you will need it”.

Finally the back valley farmer came into the room. He turned a quick look at his wife and daughter sitting in the corner and a quite long one at the visitor sitting relaxed in a chair. But then he looked at the clock., which at the top of its shield had a painting of his farm including the little tower of the chapel, a red rose was painted on each corner and in the middle of the dial was the number 1788. The farmer turned around and grumbling towards his daughter ”if you still want him” he left the room.

Only a few months later, the young couple in the cottage next door focused on manufacturing varnished shields only. When soon an extension became necessary the farmer loaned Laurenz the money, demanding a good interest of course. Theresa recorded how many painted clock shields left their workshop in the course of years: they amounted to more than 20.000 and were sent into 14 different countries. Clock shields from this back valley were sought after in the entire Black Forest, because of their sturdiness and bright colors. They were seen in living rooms of London and Paris, and could be found in Russian servant rooms as much as in workshops of skilled workers in Spain.
Shield painting turned soon into a Black Forest trade, but Laurenz Winterhalder had led the way, because he absolutely wanted to marry his Theresa and had to convince her father first.
(with courteous permission of the publisher
"Lahrer Hinkenden Boten")

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