Frank Muller — USDA Pomological Watercolors
6 restored plates, 1889–1892, from the USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection — with a biography from the archival record.
Frank Muller was one of the earliest artists employed by the USDA Division of Pomology, which began hiring illustrators in 1887. The only biographical statement found for him is in White and Neumann’s 1982 survey of the collection, which records him as active from 1891 to 1897; no birth or death dates, training or later career have been traced, and he has no entry in the usual illustrators’ databases.
His fifteen surviving plates in the Pomological Watercolor Collection are dated 1889 to 1892 — among the earliest in the whole collection — and are almost all small fruits: strawberries, black and red raspberries and a gooseberry, with a pear, a peach and a plum, painted from specimens sent in by growers from Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Virginia and California.
The plates
Every plate in our restored set credited to Frank Muller, by fruit then variety. Each has its own anchor (for example #burbank-late-plum). This is our holding, not the painter’s complete output; the National Agricultural Library holds the rest.
| Fruit | Variety | Year | Plate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plum | Burbank Late | 1889 |  |
| Raspberry | Doolittle | 1891 |  |
| Raspberry | Gregg | 1892 |  |
| Raspberry | Johnstons Sweet | 1891 |  |
| Raspberry | Rancocas | 1891 |  |
| Strawberry | Alpha | 1891 |  |
By period
1890–1899 · 5 plates
5 plates in this set from the 1890s: berries (5).
Doolittle Raspberry · Gregg Raspberry · Johnstons Sweet Raspberry · Rancocas Raspberry · Alpha Strawberry
Plates per year (this set)
Sources & citation
- White, J. & Neumann, A. (1982), 'The collection of pomological watercolors at the U.S. National Arboretum', Huntia 4(2): 103–124 — Appendix I, 'Some U.S.D.A. artists'
- USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection — NAL ArchivesSpace MS0184 (the Division began hiring artists in 1887)
- The collection on Wikimedia Commons (files credited ‘Muller, Frank’)
- USDA Pomological Watercolor Collection — National Agricultural Library (the originals, with catalogue records)
- Pomological Watercolor Collection — Wikipedia
The original watercolours are in the public domain. The restorations shown here are Madten’s, at web resolution. To cite this page: Madten, “Frank Muller — USDA Pomological Watercolors,” https://www.madten.com/reference/frank-muller-usda-watercolors, 2026-10-29.