ELIZABETH RICE MATTISON, Andrew W. Mellon Curator of Academic Programming and Curator of European Art
While she was famous throughout Europe in the 18th century, Barbara Regina Dietzsch (1706–1783) is today a little-known figure in the history of art and science. Based in Nuremberg, Dietzsch succeeded her father, Johann, as the head of a painting workshop in the city. She specialized in botanical and ornithological painting, and she is best known for representing specimens against black backgrounds to enable the greatest accuracy of representation. Engravers then transformed her paintings into illustrated scientific texts. Christoph Trew, whose famous book on plants was first published in 1750, featured engravings after Dietzsch's paintings; he described her in his introduction: "Our countrywoman, Miss Barbara Regina Dietzsch, now quite famous everywhere." Dietzsch also employed her sister Margareta Barbara in the workshop. Dietzsch's work was highly sought after by collectors in the 18th century, especially aristocratic women patrons who advocated for scientific investigations of the natural world. Dietzsch is critical to understanding the essential role that women played in the history of science and the development of botany.
Many works by Dietzsch were long misattributed to men in her circle, and the Hood Museum's acquisition of these paintings comes at a critical moment in the reevaluation of her significance and the recovery of her oeuvre. The watercolor is representative of Dietzsch's plant studies. Representing two intertwined dandelions in which a caterpillar and a butterfly nestle, this study captures an apparently fleeting glimpse of nature. Positioned against the stark backgrounds, the two dandelions are rendered with profound detail. Although Dietzsch generally intended to create illustrations of plants and birds for scientific manuals, these dandelion paintings seem different—perhaps they were a means of honing the artist's skill and observation above and beyond their value as didactic prints. She returned to the subject of dandelions multiple times in various permutations over the course of her career, making this particular work an important example of her practice not only as a scientific illustrator but also as an artist in her own right.
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