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Lot Essay
Peu de temps après son mariage en 1723, Ridinger ouvrit sa propre maison d’édition à Augsbourg qui rencontra un vif succès. La créativité inépuisable de l’artiste lui permit de réaliser plus de 1200 dessins d’animaux, dont beaucoup étaient préparatoires pour des tirages imprimés. C’est le cas de la présente feuille, gravée au verso par le fils de l’artiste, Martin Elias Ridinger, en 1763 dans le cadre d’une série intitulée Raubvögel und Eulen in Neues Thier Reus Büchl Erster Theil, allerei Art Hunde vorstellend. Un dessin daté de 1748 se rapprochant de la présente feuille, tant par son sujet que par son exécution, est conservée à la Morgan Library & Museum de New York (voir W.M. Griswold et al., The World Observed. Five Centuries of Drawings from the Collection of Charles Ryskamp, cat. exp., New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, 2001, no 28, ill.). Comme l’attestent ses dessins, les oeuvres de Ridinger allient très souvent sujets anecdotiques et scientifiques. Alors que les animaux sont représentés avec la plus grande précision et comme étant le sujet principal de la gravure, d'après le dessin, ils contiennent souvent un élément narratif comme cela est le cas pour la gravure d’après le dessin de la Morgan Library qui est accompagné d’un extrait du Psaume 104 :29.
Shortly after his marriage in 1723, Ridinger opened his own publishing house in Augsburg which became highly successful. The artist’s inexhaustible creativity resulted in over 1200 animal drawings, of which many were for prints. Such is the case for the present sheet, which was engraved in reverse by the artist’s son, Martin Elias Ridinger, in 1763 as part of a series titled Raubvögel und Eulen in Neues Thier Reus Büchl Erster Theil, allerei Art Hunde vorstellend. A drawing dated 1748 which closely relates to the present sheet, both in subject and execution, is in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York (see W.M. Griswold et al., The World Observed. Five Centuries of Drawings from the Collection of Charles Ryskamp, exhib. cat., New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, 2001, no. 28, ill.). As is attested by these sheets, Ridinger’s drawings and prints are often poised between the anecdotical and the scientific. While the animals are rendered with the greatest precision (and indeed are identified in the key in the engraving after the present drawing), they often contain a narrative element, as is the case with the print after the Morgan sheet which is accompanied by an extract from Psalm 104:29.
Shortly after his marriage in 1723, Ridinger opened his own publishing house in Augsburg which became highly successful. The artist’s inexhaustible creativity resulted in over 1200 animal drawings, of which many were for prints. Such is the case for the present sheet, which was engraved in reverse by the artist’s son, Martin Elias Ridinger, in 1763 as part of a series titled Raubvögel und Eulen in Neues Thier Reus Büchl Erster Theil, allerei Art Hunde vorstellend. A drawing dated 1748 which closely relates to the present sheet, both in subject and execution, is in the Morgan Library and Museum, New York (see W.M. Griswold et al., The World Observed. Five Centuries of Drawings from the Collection of Charles Ryskamp, exhib. cat., New York, The Pierpont Morgan Library, 2001, no. 28, ill.). As is attested by these sheets, Ridinger’s drawings and prints are often poised between the anecdotical and the scientific. While the animals are rendered with the greatest precision (and indeed are identified in the key in the engraving after the present drawing), they often contain a narrative element, as is the case with the print after the Morgan sheet which is accompanied by an extract from Psalm 104:29.