German-born American painter and lay Moravian preacher in Pennsylvania. (Wikipedia) "A strangely neglected figure in the history of American art… Until recently the only printed notice of this colonial artist was a brief note in Appleton's Cyclopedia of American Biography, and a biographical sketch in Pennsylvania History. His works lay hidden in the halls of Bethlehem, Lititz, and Nazareth, [PA]. It seemed as though they would never find their way to the front in Church history or the art world. [He] first edged into present-day notice by virture of the fact that his portraits included most of the early leaders of Bethlehem. http://www.jstor.org/discover/10.2307/27769412?uid=3738736&uid=2&uid=4&sid=21104316353481 German immigrant painter who wrote an early, unpublished history of art. Descended from a family of goldsmiths in Augsburg, Germany. ...Settled in Bethlehem, PA. There he proseletyzed for the sect, becoming the town's Gemeinmaler (chief painter). Taught painting and produced portraiture and landscapes. Haidt studied further Benjamin West in 1755 in Philadelphia. Beginning in 1762 (through 1770) Haidt wrote a treatice on art (in German), including a section on the history of art penned (and extent today) in the hand of an assistant. The 37-page manuscript covered proportion, perspective, and basics. The art history section decries Roman painting's failure to last after antiquity and lauds Italian Renaissance painting as exemplary. Haidt failed to publish or distribute his writing and it remained unknown until the twentieth century. Haidt had no students who worked after him in US. Haidt's manuscript is preserved, though unpublished, in the Moravian Archives in Bethlehem PA. Haidt's brief account of art history is important as it predates that of Johann Joachim Winnckelman. (More at dictinaryofarthistorians.org) undefined

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