4059 - Adrian Zingg, attributed, Dresden Landscape

Adrian Zingg, attributed, Dresden Landscape View of the Reisewitz Garden and the village of Plauen near Dresden, with people strolling along the path and skilfully rendered sunlight; probably an etching washed with ink, late 18th/early 19th century, unsigned, with handwritten artist’s details and the title “Entrance to Reisewitz and Plauen” on an adhesive label on the reverse, mounted in a passe-partout and framed behind glass, sheet dimensions approx. 9.5 x 14.5 cm. Artist’s details: also known as Adrian Zink, Swiss landscape draughtsman, etcher and copperplate engraver (1734, St. Gallen - 1816, Leipzig), is regarded as a pioneer of modern Dresden landscape painting; son of the gunsmith and steel-cutter Bartholomäus Zingg; pupil of Johann Rudolf Holzhalb in Zurich; from 1757 worked initially as an apprentice, later as a draughtsman and engraver for Johann Ludwig Aberli in Bern; in 1759 travelled to Paris with Aberli, where he met Johann Georg Wille, who introduced him to prominent figures; from then on, he worked with Wille until 1766, In 1764, appointed by Christian Ludwig von Hagedorn to the newly founded Dresden Academy and worked there from 1766; developed a friendship with Anton Graff; in Dresden, he was influenced by Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich, known as ‘Dietricy’ (1712-1774), whose prints Zingg completed after Dietricy’s death; in 1769, he became a member of the Vienna Academy; in 1787 a member of the Berlin Academy; from 1803 a professor at the Dresden Academy and appointed court engraver to the Elector; ran a drawing and engraving workshop in Dresden; sold his works himself at the Leipzig Fair, amongst other places; source: Thieme-Becker, Sikart and Wikipedia.