Artist of All Schools: Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712-1774)
28 November 2012 - 8 March 2013
Halls of the Winter Palace, 3rd floor

On November 27, the Artist of All Schools: Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich (1712-1774) exhibition was inaugurated at the State Hermitage Museum, dedicated to the 300th birth anniversary of the remarkable German painter who, in his lifetime, enjoyed recognition and renown not only in Germany but all over Europe. Dietrich earned fame as an "artist of all schools," a master capable of reproducing in his pieces the characteristic manner of any famous predecessor.

However, after the artist's death, the next generation began to severely criticize his works for exactly the same qualities that enthralled the contemporaries, i.e. derivativeness, compilation and imitation. Since then, artistic tastes of the public and art critics have changed. Currently, the prevailing trend is to pay homage to the Saxon master's merits.

In Russia, the name of Dietrich is hardly known, if so - mostly to collectors still in possession of his paintings and graphic works. Sometimes those are ascribed to other artists, most frequently - to Dutch painters of the 17th century whom the master would imitate, indulging the tastes of his fellow countrymen and contemporaries preferring the Dutch painting of the previous century to any other European school.

Dietrich learnt paining from the renowned Saxon landscapist Johann Alexander Thiele who introduced him to the court of Augustus the Strong as a promising young talent. The Saxon minister, a well-known collector and philanthropist Count Heinrich von Bruhl became Dietrich's patron. The artist was lucky to live and work at the time of the great Saxon rulers, Elector Frederick Augustus I or Augustus the Strong (1670-1733), who eventually became King of Poland (Frederick Augustus II) and his son Elector Frederick Augustus II (King of Poland (Frederick Augustus III), who deemed promotion of arts an important task of the state. Through ample architectural construction, Dresden became one of the most beautiful cities in Europe. By 1732, the architect M.D. Poppelmann had completed construction of the famous Zwinger that eventually came to accommodate the Dresden Art Gallery. Domestic artists were not represented in the gallery at court. The works of Dietrich were the only exception for the artist had learnt to imitate European samples so masterfully that enabled the Saxon rulers and other customers to place his pictures next to those by Italian, French and their favourite Dutch artists. At the time referred to, those were imitated by many German painters such as J.C. Seekatz, J.G. Trautmann, H.G. Schutz, J. Junker and many others; however, it is Dietrich that specialists' attention is mostly focused on. His phenomenon consists of the fact that in his best pieces (either paintings or graphic works), a personal perception of the image manifests itself through diligent and apt imitation; this is especially true with the landscape wherein Dietrich succeeded in conveying instantaneous conditions of the nature and strident moods. This is most applicable to landscapes dating to the 1750s, created under the impact of Italian impressions and based on drawings made during the short stay in Italy in 1743 (Landscape with Herd, Seashore with Tower Ruins, Italian Landscape with a Bridge, Landscape with a River among Rocks). Dietrich drew an inspiration not only from Italy's wild but also works by the Italian G.B. Castiglione and, most importantly, the Dutch artists who attempted to paint using Italian techniques - N. Berchem, J. Both, A. Cuyp and A. Everdingen.

The collection of Dietrich's paintings at the State Hermitage Museum is the largest outside Germany. Out of the 31 pictures kept at the Hermitage, 22 are signed or monogrammed. Their number and composition enable you to fully imagine the diversity of the master's oeuvre. This anniversary exhibition is the first "monograph" display dedicated to the Saxon painter's masterpieces. It is the first time that many of his works are submitted to the viewers' judgment. Previously, they never left the Museum depositories. Of special interest in this respect are the four large decorative canvases representing landscapes with animals created in the early period of the artist's creative activities and bearing witness to how he matured.

Graphic pieces by Dietrich were no less famous than his paintings. In his etchings he also imitated great masters of the past. In reference books many his prints are marked as being "in the manner of Rembrandt", "in the taste of Jordaens" or "in the manner of Salvator Rosa." The climax of Dietrich's etching mastery highlights the period from 1739 to the mid 1750s when the artist created approximately 40 sheets, mostly landscapes. The collection of Dietrich's engravings in the possession of the State Hermitage Museum is considerable in terms of both size and origin. It includes multiple rare reprints of earlier conditions. The best of them are displayed at this exhibition. The representation of the master's work is supplemented with multiple drawings in a range of genres.

Specially for the exhibition, the State Hermitage Museum Publishing House prepared an illustrated catalogue. The exhibition curator is Maria Pavlovna Garlova, a senior researcher of the State Hermitage Museum Western European Fine Art Department.