Ridinger, Johann Elias (1698-1767), Nocturnal Crucifixion Group

Johann Elias Ridinger(1698 Ulm - 1767 Augsburg). Consummatum est. Mezzotint, 56 x 42 cm (plate size), 59,5 x 51,2 cm (sheet size), signed and inscribed "I.[ohannis] El.[ias] Ridinger excud.[it] Aug.[usta] Vind.[elica]". Thielemann 1274,3

- The light in the dark of the night -

In this large-format print Johann Elias Ridinger exploits the aesthetic effect of the mezzotint technique. In mezzotint, also known as mezzotinto, the copper plate is completely roughened with a cradle iron or roulette, so that a print in this state would produce a deep black surface. Because of the fine structure of the plate, which affects the black, not even 100 sheets can be printed in high quality in mezzotint. The scraper is used to smooth the roughened surface of the plate where a light area is to be created, allowing a smooth transition from dark to light. The scraper is used to work the light into the dark, so that what is being depicted seems to emerge from the darkness. Since the plate is not engraved but its surface is smoothed, the forms are not determined by line structures but by soft transitions, resulting in the painterly effect of mezzotint, which is unusual for a printmaking process, as can be seen, for example, in the grain of wood or the icarnate of Christ.
In Ridinger's painting the darkening of the world that occurs with the death of Christ is depicted in a particularly impressive way through the black art manner. As in the paintings of Matthias Grünewald or Peter Paul Ruben's Munich Christ in Solitude, the world disappears into darkness. It is extinguished, desolate and empty, as barren as the rocks of Golgotha on which Mary and John stand. And yet, in death on the cross, Christ shines brightly. He becomes a body of light, the light of the world, which illuminates Mary and John within, leading them from death to life, just as the dead nature blossoms again under the trunk of the Cross, where the descending blood will touch the ground. It is precisely by the mezzotint and Ridinger's virtuoso handling of this technique that the polarity of darkness and death on the one hand and light and life on the other is brought to life in a highly dramatic way, while at the same time the large-format sheet develops a long-distance effect unusual for prints.

About the artist

From 1711 the young Johann Elias Ridinger worked as an assistant to the Ulm painter Christian Resch. In 1713/14 he moved to Augsburg to work with the animal and plant painter Johann Falch, where he trained himself by copying older masters. On the recommendation of the Augsburg painter Gabriel Spitzel Ridinger stayed with Count Metternich in Regensburg from 1715 to 1718. During the frequent hunts and at the riding school Ridinger intensively studied the depiction of animals. On his return to Augsburg in 1718, Ridinger became a pupil of the battle painter Georg Philipp Rugendas at the academy of arts.
His immense oeuvre comprises some 1600 engravings, etchings and mezzotints, which he sold through his own art publishing house. He was also a prolific painter. After his death in 1767 the publishing house was continued by his two sons Martin Elias and Johann Jakob Ridinger.

Selected Bibliography

Stefan Morét u. Arnulf Rosenstock: Wer hat das Thierreich so in seines Pinsels Macht? Die Tierdarstellungen von Johann Elias Ridinger, Darmstadt 1999.

Karl & Faber (Hrsg.): Johann Elias Ridinger, München 1979.

Rolf Biedermann: Johann Elias Ridinger 1698 - 1767, Augsburg 1967.

Georg August Wilhelm Thienemann: Leben und Wirken des unvergleichlichen Thiermalers und Kupferstechers Johann Elias Ridinger mit dem ausführlichen Verzeichniss seiner Kupferstiche, Schwarzkunstblätter und der von ihm hinterlassenen grossen Sammlung von Handzeichnungen; nebst Ridinger’s Portrait in Stahlstich und 12 aus seinen Zeichnungen entlehnten Kupferstichen, Leipzig 1856.