(Weimar 1712–1774 Dresden)
Portrait of an elegant gentleman as Pierrot in a commedia dell’arte interpretation of the Abduction of Helen,
oil on canvas, 76.1 x 63.5 cm, framed

We are grateful to Professor Helmut Börsch-Supan, Berlin, for identifying the present painting as a work by Dietricy. The painting is accompanied by an in-depth certificate.

In terms of both style and iconography, the present composition is an interesting rediscovery of art historical significance. Recently an overpainted putto was exposed in the course of a thorough restoration of the picture. The viewer is confronted with the scene of an abduction, which due to the unconvincing resistance of the woman to be claimed and the further protagonists proves to be the rape of Helen of Troy. However, underneath his cuirass Paris wears a garment that distinctly identifies him as Pierrot, the tragically comical figure of the Italian commedia dell’arte. His costume is almost identical to that of Watteau’s famous Gilles in the Louvre in Paris. As such, the scene is clearly borrowed from a contemporary theatre play. A detail of the painting opens up a further level of meaning: unlike Watteau’s Gilles, the present protagonist wears elegant buckled shoes with red heels. They reveal him as a member of the higher nobility, who were the only people granted this privilege according to the contemporary hierarchy of clothing. In Versailles, only the ‘princes de sang’, the princes of royal blood, were allowed red heels. Therefore, this is the portrait of a high-ranking aristocrat in the guise of Pierrot, who in turn has assumed the role of Paris: a role-play enacted on various levels, as it was typical of the jocular and frequently comedic nature of the early Rococo.

Dietrich received his first training from his father. As soon as he turned twelve, he studied with Johann Alexander Thiele in Dresden to become a ‘peintre-graveur’. After a stay in Weimar he returned to Dresden in 1738, where he was favoured by Count Brühl and Carl Heinrich von Heinecken. Dietricy’s most productive period as an artist began in the mid-1730s. In 1741 he was appointed royal court painter in Dresden. In 1743 the court sent him to Italy. Together with Louis de Silvestre, Anton Raphael Mengs, and Anton Graff, Dietricy numbered among the most important artists at the court of Dresden. Many of his works were acquired for the elector’s picture gallery, whose inspector he became in 1748. Dietricy was a member of the Nöthnitz circle of scholars, where he met Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn, Adam Friedrich Oeser, Anton Raphael Mengs, and Joachim Winckelmann. He had close contacts to Anton Graff, Adrian Zingg, and Daniel Chodowiecki in Berlin and to Johann Georg Wille in Paris, who was one of his most important clients. In 1764, Dietricy became a member of the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts; at the same time, he was also held the position of director at the drawing school of the Meissen porcelain factory. It is hard to follow Dietricy’s development as an artist, as he was soon highly successful in mimicking the styles of his models. Landscapes, portraits, and genre scenes, as well as mythological and religious subjects, attest to his great versatility as a court artist. The Dresden picture gallery owned as many as sixty paintings by Dietricy, imitating the styles of Salvator Rosa, Adriaen van Ostade, Rembrandt, Watteau, and others. Dietricy’s interest in the old landscape painters of the Netherlandish school had been encouraged by Thiele. Dietricy contributed to the landscape genre’s becoming the chief discipline of painter-engravers in Saxony. He was also a significant engraver and etcher himself, leaving behind 911 sheets, which his widow sold to the printroom in Dresden. In 1795 all of the remaining plates were purchased by the Nuremberg-based art dealer J. F. Frauenholz.