Evidence suggests that the artist lived among the Moravians of Salem, North Carolina, but accepted patrons from among other religious groups, such as Roman Catholics, that practiced the baptism of infants.
The designs favored by this artist are bold, frequently geometric, and dominated by the use of green and red.
Other common symbols include pilasters, used as portions of borers; large, geometric balls, sometimes surrounded by a piece of verse; and snakes twined with texts such as hymn lyrics.
The name given to the artist comes from the German phrase meaning "honor father and mother", frequently found in pieces attributed to the painter.
[1] Four pieces by the Ehre Vater Artist are in the collection of the Museum of Early Southern Decorative Arts.