No title. (Two men and a woman fighting.)

A woman wearing a bonnet tries to separate two men as they fight over what appears to be the unfavourable end to a card game. The small table between the two figures is knocked aside by the force of the back figure standing to grab the hair of the figure nearest us, which he does so whilst wielding a knife, surely with the intent to injure or at the very least intimidate. The foreground figure sits precariously on his bucket-stool as he too reaches for his knife. One would never wish to witness this etching 10 seconds later.

It has proved impossible, as yet, to definitely identify the artist of this macabre and disturbing etching. This makes it the sole print among the 599 predominantly Old Master prints presented to the Colonial Museum by Bishop Ditlev Monrad in 1869 - the nucleus of Te Papa's art collection - in this category. Clearly Monrad favoured famous and established names, and there is nothing new here.

Foemerly attributed to Jan van Vliet, the etching strikes a very different note from his other prints both stylistically and psychologically, and is also more roughly executed.  In Monrad's own catalogue, the print is almost certainly the one attributed to Van Vliet's far better known contemporary Jan Steen, but there is nothing quite as disturbing as this in Steen's often good-natured, fun-loving oeuvre, and reproductive prints are the norm for him. However, two specialists in the field, Dr Meredith Hale (Loughborough University) and Chance Wilson (University of Auckland), both believe that its theme, but not its execution, are far more consistent with the 'low life' genre scenes of  Adriaen Brouwer or Adriaen van Ostade, the latter well represented in Te Papa's collection. Another possible, much later candidate suggested by Wilson is the Scottish artist David Deuchar (1744-1808) who published the massive A Collection of Etchings After the Most Eminent Masters of the Dutch and Flemish Schools, Particularly Rembrandt, Ostade, Cornelius Bega and Van Vliet. Unfortunately there appears to be no perfect match, although Deuchar’s faces show a variety of forms, often appearing quite​ like caricature-like, not altogether unlike our print.

But probably the most conclusive identification - and this must be no more than an attribution - is to the little-known Nuremberg artist Johann Albrecht Dietszch (1720-1782), whose better known sister was an artist who specialised in animal and plant watercolours and gouaches, Barbara Regina Dietszch (1706-83). Crucial in this is the New York print dealer and expert James Goodfriend, who recalls buying the same print in a set or group of six genre works, described at the time as '17th century Dutch'. Goodfriend, however, believed that it was far more likely 18th century German, while strongly Dutch inspired, a conclusion he arrived at 'looking through some 18th century German drawings [and] a name stuck out as showing the same influences and maybe the same style: J. A. Dietzsch, a minor. minor artist, awfully difficult to research.' To this curator, the resemblance between Dietzsch's genre scenes and this etching, in their slightly stark, crude yet dramatic style, does seem considerable. This is verified by visiting the digital collection of the Städel Museum, Frankfurt.

Sources:

British Museum Collection online, 'David Deuchar', https://www.britishmuseum.org/research/collection_online/search.aspx?people=127124&peoA=127124-2-60

James Goodfriend, e-mail to Mark Stocker, 7 May 2019

Meredith Hale, e-mail to Mark Stocker, 9 April 2019

Städel Museum, Digitale Sammlung, 'Johann Albrecht Dietzsch', https://sammlung.staedelmuseum.de/de/person/dietzsch-johann-albrecht

Chance Wilson, e-mail to Mark Stocker, 10 April 2019

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art      April 2019