The Daring Hunter, Enduring in Winter
Medium
Pen and brown ink, with brush and brown and gray wash, over graphite, on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
31.1 × 25.3 cm (12 1/4 × 10 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
222581
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Ridinger’s spirited eight-sided, pen-and-ink compositions for The Four Seasons are very similar to their final incarnation as etchings with oval images, which the busy Ridinger delegated to his son to etch. More hardily attired than the well-heeled hunters of Spring, Summer, and Fall, the protagonist of Winter huddles with his dogs before a fire. His persistence in the face of nature suggests that he hunts out of necessity as well as sport. Despite the bitter cold, he has successfully targeted t...
About the Artist
Johann Elias Ridinger · 1698–1767
Johann Elias Ridinger (1698–1767) was born in Ulm into an artistic family, the son of scribe and artist Johann Daniel Ridinger and Regina Catharina Miller. He received his initial training in Ulm under the painter Christoph Resch, who instructed him in perspective, geometry, and architecture while assigning preparatory tasks like painting wax models. Around 1713, Ridinger moved to Augsburg, where ...