drawing, ink
drawing
baroque
ink painting
landscape
figuration
ink
line
genre-painting
Dimensions: 11 3/8 × 16 15/16 in. (28.89 × 43.02 cm) (sheet)
Copyright: Public Domain
Johann Elias Ridinger created this drawing, A Stag Caught by a Pack of Hounds, using pen and brown ink on paper. This wasn’t just any paper, but likely a high-quality, handmade sheet, prized for its texture and ability to take fine lines. Ridinger would have used a quill pen, meticulously crafted from a bird's feather, to achieve the varying line weights we see here. The brown ink, probably iron gall, was made from tannins and iron salts, a recipe dating back centuries. Consider the time and skill involved in preparing these materials, a stark contrast to today’s mass-produced art supplies. The scene is a flurry of controlled chaos, the energy of the hunt captured through Ridinger's hand. It's easy to overlook the labor involved, the artist's hours translating the drama of the hunt into a compelling image. This drawing shows how “traditional” materials are often deeply entwined with histories of labor, skill, and access to resources.
Comments
Here we see a pack of hunting dogs bringing down a stag. As a young artist, Johan Elias Ridinger had spent years witnessing such events at aristocratic courts. Though it is unlikely that he drew this scene during an actual hunt, he tapped his deep experience of such moments to vividly imagine and recreate the action. Here, near the end of his own life, he matched his handling of his pencil and pen to the violent energy of the event. By the time Ridinger made this drawing, he was considered the leading maker of prints and drawings of animals in all of Germany. When producing such images for public consumption, he worked in a meticulous, polished style, but here we see the fury that he could bring to his art when working to satisfy his own needs.
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