Ridinger, Johann Elias

(Born Ulm, February 16, 1698 - Died Augsburg, April 10, 1767)

Beautiful rare copperplate engravings of
hunting dogs by Johann Elias Ridinger.

Johann Elias Ridinger is one of the most famous German engravers of animals, particularly horses, hounds and hunting scenes. He began his training in Ulm with the painter Christoph Resch (1701–16), and later studied under Johann Falch (1687–1727) in Augsburg. He learned the art of engraving from Georg Philipp Rugendas.

At the invitation of Wolf, Freiherr von Metternich, Ridinger spent threes years at the Riding School of Regensburg, an experience which had a profound influence on his work. His illustrations of equitation are among his best known engravings.

Sometime around 1723, Ridinger founded his own art publishing house in Augsburg and began selling prints that he himself designed and engraved. These included series on hunting, breeds of horses, riding manuals, wild animals and the hunting dogs shown here.

After Ridinger's death his sons Martin Elias Ridinger (1730–80) and Johann Jakob Ridinger (1736–84) continued to run the publishing house, issuing reprints of the most popular series of their father's work. We are not certain which edition these prints come from, but based on the old handlaid chainlinked paper they are certainly either 18th Century or early 19th Century. Each has wide margins and the paper with its slight irregularities is clearly old and hand made.

Several of the prints have a watermark - one appears to be WAM*?EN and a second **WL (Where we have used an * = we cannot determine the letter).