Christ Healing The Sick
c. 1752
18th Century
21 x 28 1/2 in. (53.3 x 72.4 cm)
Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich,
German,
(1712–1774)
Object Type:
PAINTINGS
Creation Place:
Europe
Medium and Support:
Oil on canvas
Credit Line:
Purchased with funds provided by Benjamin D. Bernstein and the Art Angels
Accession Number:
96-P-429
Dietrich studied painting first with his father, Johann George, a court painter in Weimar, then with Alexander Thiele, a landscape painter in Dresden. He became a court painter for the Electors of Saxony in the 1730s and was based in Dresden for most of his career. He served as inspector of the royal painting gallery in the late 1740s, and he later taught painting at the Dresden art academy. He was a versatile and prolific artist who drew inspiration from a range of European styles. He was also adept at imitating works by other artists, and his interpretations of Old Master paintings were widely disseminated in prints during the 18th century.
In this painting of Christ Healing the Sick, he depicts a subject made famous by Rembrandt in his Hundred Gilder Print (c. 1649), which Dietrich would have seen in the Dresden royal print cabinet. Here he includes elements from this etching, along with a second etching by Rembrandt entitled Christ Preaching ("La Petite Tombe"). Dietrich’s painting depicts Christ in the Temple, after he cast out the moneylenders, following Matthew 21:14: “And the blind and the lame came to him in the temple; and he healed them.”
Current Location:
Art Museum : 18 C Gallery
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