Sister Maria Innocentia Hummel O.S.F. (21 May 1909 – 6 November 1946) was a German Franciscan sister and artist. She is noted for her paintings which were the basis for Hummel figurines. Early life Born in Massing in Bavaria, Germany, as Berta Hummel, one of the six children of Adolf and Victoria Hummel, living above her father's dry goods store. As a child Berta showed creative talent, and developed a reputation in the village as the local artist. She was a cheerful, active girl, who loved the outdoors and winter sports. Her father encouraged her artistic talents and, at age 12, enrolled her in a boarding school of the Sisters of Loreto in Simbach am Inn, about 30 kilometres away. Hummel continued to grow in her abilities, and after graduation in 1927 she enrolled in the prestigious Academy of Applied Arts in Munich, where her talent and skills developed. Hummel was a devout Catholic and instead of the standard student housing, she chose to live in a Catholic residence run by religious sisters. While living there, she made friends with two members of the Congregation of the Franciscan Sisters of Siessen (Sießen) in Bad Saulgau who were also studying at the Academy. The religious congregation focuses on teaching, and gives great emphasis to the role of art in education. After Berta graduated in 1931 with top honors, she chose to follow a religious calling that she had felt for some time and applied to enter that congregation, and was admitted in April 1931 as a postulant. Berta made one final visit to her family home in late May, spending two weeks with them. On 22 August, she was admitted as a novice and received the religious habit of the congregation and the religious name of Sister Maria Innocentia. Life in the convent and as an artist After completing her novitiate year, Hummel was assigned to teach art in a nearby school run by the convent. Though her days were busy teaching, Hummel spent her spare time painting pictures of children. The sisters were impressed with her art and sent copies to Emil Fink Verlag, a publishing house in Stuttgart which specialized in religious art, to which Hummel reluctantly agreed. The company decided to release copies of the works in postcard form, which were popular in the early 20th century. In 1934, it also published a collection of her drawings, titled