Salamander with Branch of Cherries

Barbara-Regina Dietzsch was the eldest child of the landscape painter, Johann-Israel Dietzsch, one of seven siblings, all of whom flourished in eighteenth century Nuremberg as painters, engravers and musicians. Like her younger sister, Margareta, Barbara also worked in gouache on parchment and specialized in painting floral still-lifes, often tied in bouquets with ribbon and flanked by insects. Employed continuously by the Nuremberg court, Barbara-Regina’s work was often engraved, and she painted continuously.
At her death, one hundred-eight-gouache paintings of birds, flowers, and insects were listed in the collection of the Grüner residence in Nuremberg. She is also known to have painted twelve landscapes, three hunt scenes, and three portraits. Thanks largely to the enthusiasm of Dr. Christoph-Jakob Trew (a wealthy physician and bibliophile with a keen interest in botany), and Dietzsch’s patron, Nuremberg became one of the most important center of botanical art in the mid-eighteenth century.
Although the botanical studies of the Dietzsch family members are somewhat difficult to distinguish from one another, those of Barbara-Regina are generally finer, but with less movement than those of her siblings.
The Deitzschs’ still-life gouaches, coveted by English and Dutch collectors, were unmistakably influenced by the work of Jan van Kessel, Maria Sibylla Merian, and Rachel Ruysch. Her paintings are in the Museum of Haarlem, Bamburg, and Dresden, among others.