_J. W. E. Dietrich_ (German: 1712-1774).
Johann Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich was born at Weimar, where his
father was court-painter. So precocious was his talent that
when only in his eighteenth year he was himself appointed
court-painter to Augustus II., King of Poland and Elector of
Saxony. In 1743 he went to Italy, and after this visit he
turned his name into Italian by signing it Dietrici (as in the
picture dated 1745). He was afterwards appointed keeper of the
celebrated Gallery at Dresden, a Professor of the Academy
there, and Director of the school of painting attached to the
porcelain manufactory. His pictures and etchings are numerous.
In his original work his style remained German. But he had also
a remarkable facility in imitating the works of other painters.
"He did more," says Merritt, the picture-restorer, "to confound
collectors than all other imitators put together. Hundreds
of his imitations of the various masters have been sold to
second-rate amateurs for original productions" (_Art Criticism
and Romance_, i. 164).