Anton Dietrich

Born in Meissen, Dietrich joined the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts at age 14 and studied sculpture under Ernst Julius Hähnel.

He became a student of the painter Eduard Bendemann in that same year, but a short time later Dietrich moved, together with Leonhard Gey, to work in the studios of Julius Schnorr von Carolsfeld.

Despite positive reviews, Dietrich was unable to make a living as a freelance artist, so he also worked as an illustrator for various publishers and art dealers.

One of his first great works was Rudolf von Habsburg on the Corpse of the Ottoman of Bohemia which premiered at an exhibition and earned him an academic travel grant.

[1] In 1878 he completed another commission, the fresco Paul Preaches at the Areopagus in Athens, based on Acts chapter 17, verses 22–23.