Dietericy’s etching, “Heiliger Wilhelm”, 1760

Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietricy (aka Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich) (1712–74)

“Heiliger Wilhelm”, 1760

Etching on laid paper, from the collection of Ernst Fabricius (Lugt 847 and 919 ter) and two other unknown collections (not in Lugt)

Size: (sheet) 19.2 x 14.9 cm; (plate) 18.4 x 14 cm

Linck 161 III (JF Linck 1846, “Monographie der von C. W. E. Dietrich radierten, geschabten und in Holz geschnittenen malerischen Vorstellungen”, Berlin)

Condition: strong impression with small margins and slight age toning, otherwise in excellent condition. There are collectors’ stamps and pencil inscriptions verso.

I am selling this fascinating image of St William bound against a rock with his upraised arms tied by the wrists to a tree for the total cost of AU$175 (currently US$131.92/EUR123.76/GBP108.54 at the time of posting this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

If you are interested in purchasing this etching by Dietericy executed in the style of Salvator Rosa, please contact me (oz_jim@printsandprinciples.com) and I will send you a PayPal invoice to make the payment easy.

In my former life as a lecturer, I used this print as a key point of focus when discussing the different ways that artists have employed what I used to describe as a “return stroke” (i.e. a zigzag line that captures the motion of free/unconstrained mark making).

My discussion of this topic usually began with the very contrived return strokes found in Antonio del Pollaiuolo's (1431–98) only engraving, “Battle of the Nudes”, and in Andrea Mantegna’s (c.1431–1506) engravings where the artists famously faked the “look” of return strokes to lend their prints the impression that the images were executed with fluid immediacy. I then moved to Francesco Rosselli (c.1445–before 1513) whose line work retains the “hooks” of the return line (i.e. the twist at the start and conclusion of each return-stroke) without showing a fully inscribed zigzag of lines. After plodding my way through a history of artists who then took the return stroke to new heights of meaningful use, I used this print as my conclusion in discussing the return stroke in analogue images before launching into the 3D world of digital return strokes.

In short, this print is worth examining closely as it is not only a crystallisation of Salvator Rosa’s stylistic approach to drawing but it has also been a perfect image with which to launch a discussion about ways of extending analogue drawing into immersive digital formats.

(Note: this print is a relisting from my earlier blog discussion: “Punctum: Dujardin & Dietricy—What is punctum and how does it arise in imagery?” (http://www.printsandprinciples.com/2012/04/dujardin-dietricy-punctum.html)