Friedrich August Theodor Dietrich

Friedrich August Theodor Dietrich (born October 23, 1817 in Bojanowo , † December 7, 1903 in Lankwitz ) was a German sculptor.

Life

Dietrich first completed an apprenticeship in wood carving. He went to Berlin as a student of Friedrich Drake and attended the art academy under Christian Daniel Rauch and Christian Friedrich Tieck . As a self-employed sculptor, Dietrich exhibited regularly and successfully at the Berlin academy exhibition from 1850 onwards. A first important commission was the replicated statuette of the Russian Tsar Nicholas I , further portrait statuettes and busts of Prussian and Russian rulers followed. Access to these farms opened up a wide range of job opportunities for him. Prince Pückler-Muskau became a sponsor of Dietrich. So the now wealthy artist was able to acquire the family seat of Count Oriola near Luckau . In 1898 he exhibited for the last time in Berlin.

plant

The portrait statuettes of Tsar Nicholas I (around 1852) and his bust (1856) are among the most important works by Dietrich. He then received numerous portrait commissions, including the busts of Friedrich Wilhelm IV and Wilhelm I preserved in the holdings of the National Gallery Berlin . Dietrich created a memorial for Postmaster General Heinrich Schmückert for his hometown Bojanowo , for which he received honorary citizenship on October 1, 1874.
Dietrich's work is characterized by a strict realism, which is why his work leaves much to be desired in terms of freshness.

literature

• Bloch / Sibylle Einholz / v. Simson (Ed.): Ethos & Pathos. The Berlin Sculpture School 1786 to 1914 (volume accompanying the Berlin 1990 exhibition), Berlin 1990, p. 438
• Bernhard Maaz (Ed.): National Gallery Berlin. The XIX. Century. Inventory catalog of the sculptures, Berlin 2006, vol. 1, p. 169 f.

Individual evidence

1. ↑ Lankwitz registry office, death register No. 125/1903. State Archives Berlin.