black chalk, watercolour
33.2 x 28 cm

Provenance:
Weigelt Collection.
E & R Kistner Buch und Kunstanqituariat, Nuremberg, where acquired in 1987;
Private Collection, Germany.


A predecessor of the Romantic era and an inexhaustible printmaker and draughtsman, Johann Elias Ridinger’s elegant works often depict hunting scenes. In this particularly vibrant drawing, the artist has placed the hunt of a deer against a stage-like backdrop of a rock face. The striking lighting, with its almost photographic, flash-like quality, further highlights the

dramatic nature of the moment. The use of watercolour, rarely seen in works by Ridinger, who favoured black chalk and brown ink instead, only adds to the tense moment depicted here. Another drawing in watercolour showing several hunting dogs and a hare is in the Albertina, Vienna. [1]

[1] inv. 3900.