Johann Elias Ridinger

1698 Ulm – 1767 Augsburg

Johann Elias Ridinger, an animal painter, engraver and print publisher, is a central figure of the Baroque period in Augsburg. The son of a talented draughtsman, he was taught the trade by Christoph Resch in Ulm and Johann Falch in Augsburg. On the recommendation of Gabriel Spitzel, a painter from Augsburg, Ridinger succeeded around 1715 in gaining entry to the court of Count Metternich in Regensburg, where he spent three years honing his skills as an animal painter by joining in hunts and making studies in the riding school. Around 1718/19 he returned to Augsburg, where he became a student under Georg Philipp Rugendas at the academy of the free imperial city. After completing his apprenticeship he founded his own art publish­ing company, which issued most of his prints. In 1759 he was made director of the Augsburg Academy.

Ridinger was an indefatigable draughtsman who produced a vast printed oeuvre comprising some 1,600 engravings after his own compositions and designs by other artists. It was Ridinger’s hunting scenes, in particular, which gained him a reputation during his lifetime. The special charm of this pictorial genre lies in the successful symbiosis between hunting scenes portrayed with great expertise and accuracy and a vividly observed natural setting full of astounding detail.