Battle of the Tritons
Medium
Etching on paper
Dimensions
Plate: 8.4 × 14.2 cm (3 5/16 × 5 5/8 in.); Sheet: 8.7 × 14.5 cm (3 7/16 × 5 3/4 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
79971
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In 1763, Dietrich was appointed professor of landscape painting at the newly founded Akademie der Bildenden Künste in Dresden and became Director of the Kunstschule at the porcelain manufactory in Meissen. Confident after these appointments, Dietrich took a more original approach to his work, refraining from copying the styles of other artists. In this freely etched plate, one can see the style of Dietrich’s direct hand.
About the Artist
Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich · 1712–1774
Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712–1774) was a German painter and etcher of considerable versatility, celebrated in his own time for a chameleonic ability to work convincingly in the manner of the great Dutch and Flemish masters of the preceding century. Born in Weimar, he received early training from his father and later studied under Alexander Thiele in Dresden, the city with which his caree...