Johannes Christian Deiker (1822 Wetzlar - 1895 Düsseldorf)Jagdhund im Schnee, Öl auf Leinwand, 102 cm x 151 cm, signiert, 1888 datiert, partiell fleckig, reinigungsbedürftigJohannes Christian Deiker (1822 Wetzlar - 1895 Düsseldorf)Hunting dog in the snow, oil on canvas, 102 cm x 151 cm, signed, dated 1888 partially stained, in need of cleaning. Johannes Christian Deiker was born in Wetzlar in 1822 and was a painter whose oeuvre consists mainly of animal and hunting motifs. His father was already a drawing teacher who taught his son until he attended the State Academy of Drawing in Hanau and also the Städelschule in Frankfurt. Together with his family he accepted the invitation of Prince Ferdinand zu Solms-Braunfels to come to Braunfels as a court painter. There he worked on portraits and landscape paintings, but he also received encouragement for animal and hunting motifs, which probably included the hunting dog in the snow. ''During this period Deiker preferred to paint paintings of wild boar, deer, foxes, hares and hunting dogs, but also poultry motifs such as wild ducks. His finely painted and detailed rendering of animal motifs brought him increasing success.'' During this period he enjoyed increasing fame - especially in aristocratic circles. He travelled to Antwerp for study visits, became acquainted with genre painting, but stuck to his lifelike depictions of animals, which he repeatedly presented successfully in exhibitions in Düsseldorf, Dresden, Berlin and Munich. Thus, he is still represented in important German collections, such as the Hamburger Kunsthalle, the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum & Fondation Corboud in Cologne and the Von der Heydt-Museum in Wuppertal.