Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich

“I am the light of the world,” Jesus said to his apostles—a metaphor that generations of artists endeavored to visualize, particularly in depictions of his birth. In this arresting image, Dietrich, a court artist in Dresden, uses Rembrandt’s “dark manner”—and its basic tools of etching and drypoint—to achieve harmony between technique and subject matter.

A gifted imitator, Dietrich never developed a style of his own, but produced works in the manner of several older Italian and Dutch artists. Dietrich’s engagement with Rembrandt was profound, leading him to assemble his own collection of prints by the artist. This print, produced at the height of the Rembrandt mania of the 1700s, is one of Dietrich’s masterpieces.