Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietricy's etching, “St James Preaching in a Village”, 1740

Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietricy (aka Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich) (1712–1774)

“St James Preaching in a Village” (aka " Heilige Jakobus Predict” [Rijksmuseum title]; “Preaching of St. James” [DIA title]), 1740, plate 76 from “Oeuvre de C.W.E. Dietrich”, published in Dresden, c1775.

Regarding the biographical details of St James the Greater (aka Jacobus Maior; St James of Compostela; St James the Moorslayer; Boanerges; Santiago) portrayed in this etching, the British Museum offers the following insights:

“Christian saint, apostle and New Testament figure; son of Zebedee (q.v.) and brother of St John the Evangelist (q.v.), beheaded by Herod Agrippa I (q.v.). He later miraculously appeared to fight for the Christian army during the battle of Clavijo in 844AD during the Reconquista, hence called Matamoros (Moorslayer). Patron saint of Spain; symbol a staff.”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/search_the_collection_database/term_details.aspx?bioId=78890)

Etching on laid paper with small margins around the image borderline and backed with a support sheet.

Size: (sheet) 19.6 x 27.7 cm; (plate) 19 x 27 cm; (image borderline) 18.3 x 26.5 cm.

Inscribed on plate within the image borderline: (upper left corner) “76”; (upper right) ‘“Dietricy f. 1740”.

State iii (of iv) with the addition of artists name of the second state and the plate number “76” of the third state.

Linck 30–III(4) (JF Linck 1846, “Monographie der von C. W. E. Dietrich radierten, geschabten und in Holz geschnittenen malerischen Vorstellungen”, Berlin, pp. 88–90, cat. no. 30); LeBlanc 19–III(4) (Ch. LeBlanc & J.Ch. Brunet 1854 [–1889], “Manuel de l'amateur d'estampes, contenant un dictionnaire des graveurs de toutes les nations : ouvrage destiné à faire suite au Manuel du libraire”, vol. 2, p. 128, cat. no. 19).

The British Museum offers the following description of this print:

“St James preaching; the latter is standing on a stone block outside a rural house to right, holding a cross in his right hand; group of onlookers to left; church in the background to left; third state. 1740 Etching”

(https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/collection_object_details.aspx?objectId=1469851&partId=1&searchText=Dietrich+St+James+Preaching&page=1)

See also the description of this print at the Rijksmuseum:

http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.105642 and http://hdl.handle.net/10934/RM0001.COLLECT.105641.

Condition: richly inked and well-printed faultless impression with a small margin around the plate mark in excellent conditions for the age of the print (i.e. there are no tears, holes, folds, abrasions, significant stains or foxing). The sheet is laid on a support of archival (millennium quality) washi paper.

I am selling this outstanding—museum quality—impression exemplifying the artist’s Rembrandtesque skill in guiding a viewer’s reading of a complex crowd scene by varying the amount of details shown, for the total cost of AU$320 (currently US$219.54/EUR199.19/GBP176.36 at the time of this listing) including postage and handling to anywhere in the world.

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

This print has been sold