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Christ and the Sinner

Daniel Chodowiecki, Daniel Berger

Basic information

ID: Г-IV-2830
Author: Daniel Chodowiecki Daniel Berger
Name: Christ and the Sinner
Country: Germany
Technique: etching
Material: paper
Dimensions: 13.6 x 6.2 cm (height x width)

Additionally

Type: graphic art
Genre: religious
Provenance: Purchased from O. Bushel, 1977

Information about author

Author: Daniel Chodowiecki
Artist's lifetime: 1726–1801
Country: Poland, Germany
Biography: Daniel Nikolaus Chodowiecki (1726, Gdańsk – 1801, Berlin) – a Polish-German artist, printmaker and painter, a master of etching and book illustration, a representative of the academic movement, and one of the leading exponents of sentimentalism in 18th-century German art.
The artist's father was a merchant, a descendant of a noble family. His mother came from a family of Swiss Huguenots. The young Daniel, continuing the family tradition, began working as a merchant. At the age of 17, he went to Berlin for a commercial apprenticeship, where he spent most of his life. Towards the end of his career, he became the director of the Prussian Academy of Arts (Preußische Akademie der Künste).
In the 1750s, the artist developed an interest in painting, and later in printmaking, becoming one of the leading book illustrators. Between 1770 and 1774, together with Johann Bernhard Basedow, the founder of the philanthropic movement in education, he worked on the four-volume publication "Elementary Textbook for Young People" ("Elementarwerk für die Jugend"). Chodowiecki created over 100 illustrations for it using the copper engraving technique, including some dedicated to the Crusades.
In 1781, the artist produced 12 illustrations for a play by Gustav Friedrich Wilhelm Großmann entitled "No More Than Six Dishes" ("Nicht mehr als sechs Schüsseln"). This comedy, with its strongly social-critical undertones, is considered one of the earliest outstanding dramatic works in German bourgeois literature.
Around 2,000 engravings by Chodowiecki on various subjects, executed in the techniques of etching and copper engraving, have survived to this day. One of his contemporaries wrote that, were it not for Chodowiecki's illustrations, countless books would never have found their readers. The artist created a large number of painted and graphic portraits, as well as genre scenes of burgher life, mostly executed in pen and ink. The total number of the artist's surviving drawings amounts to around 4,000.
Daniel Chodowiecki's works are held in Germany – at the Kupferstichkabinett (Museum of Prints and Drawings) in Berlin, the Museum of Fine Arts in Leipzig, and the Städel Museum in Frankfurt; in Poland – at the National Museum in Gdańsk; in Ukraine – at Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery, Vasyl Stefanyk Lviv National Scientific Library of Ukraine and the Kharkiv Art Museum, as well as in museums in Washington, Madrid and London.

Information about author

Author: Daniel Berger
Author in the original: Gottfried Daniel Berger
Artist's lifetime: 1744–1825
Country: Germany
Biography: Gottfried Daniel Berger (1744, Berlin – 1825, Berlin) was a German draftsman and engraver working in the academic style. He was a full member of the Prussian Royal Academy of Arts. From 1787, he held the position of professor of engraving and rector of the academy.

Object description

The work is executed in a traditional academic manner. In the foreground on the left, the figure of Christ is depicted extending his right hand towards a woman. She stands opposite him, her head thoughtfully bowed. On the left, behind Jesus' back, stand two of his disciples – an elderly man and a youth, possibly Peter and John. They watch the events intently and listen to the Teacher. Behind the woman's figure, the face of another man is visible, along with his hand holding the woman. This is a Pharisee, who, together with other scribes, brought the sinner to the temple to test Christ in this manner. Jesus did not condemn the woman but urged her: "Go and sin no more" (Gospel of John: 8:1–11). It is this exact episode that is depicted in the print. The scene takes place against the backdrop of a temple arch, towards which the figures of people approach, their backs turned to the viewer. These are likely the Pharisees leaving the temple, having failed to achieve their goal.
Daniel Chodowiecki's drawing was transferred onto the metal plate by the engraver Daniel Berger, with whom the artist actively collaborated during the 1780s.

Inscriptions

Below the image, on the left, the artist's signature is engraved: "D. Chodowiecki inv. et del.". Below the image, on the right – the signature of the engraver D. Berger and the year the engraving was produced: "D. Berger sculps. 1783".

Legal regulation

Borys Voznytskyi Lviv National Art Gallery

Christ and the Sinner

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