Friedrich Richard Petri

Friedrich Richard Petri (1824–1857) was a Kingdom of Saxony-born Texas painter whose works recorded life in the original German immigrant settlements, and portrayed Native American tribes in family settings.

[1] At age fourteen, Petri was enrolled at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts where he would remain for eleven years under the tutelage and guidance of Adrian Ludwig Richter and Julius Hübner.

[2] Petri and Lungwitz joined other students in the failed 1849 May Uprising in Dresden,[3] an event at the tail end of the Revolutions of 1848 resulting from the refusal of Frederick Augustus II to recognize a constitutional monarchy.

[4] Future Texas politician Jacob Kuechler[5] married Petri's sister Marie in 1856, and became a part of the family business.

His work reflects a fascination with the casual amicability between German settlers and local tribes of Delaware, Shawnee, Penateka Comanche and Lipan Apache, with meticulous attention to physical appearance, attire and lifestyle .