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Dietrich, Wendel
(b Augsburg, c. 1535; d Augsburg, Nov 1621–April 1622). German cabinetmaker and architect. His name first appears on the tax registers for Augsburg in 1557 and continues to appear regularly until 1621. He married c. 1558 and bought a house in 1561, by which time he probably already had his master’s certificate. Although there is little mention of his work in the 1560s, his reputation was such that he was employed by Hans Fugger (see FUGGER, (3)) in 1569 to work on the new state apartments in the Fuggerhaus on the Weinmarkt in Augsburg. Here he came into contact with such artists as Friedrich Sustris, Alessandro Paduano and Carlo Pallago, whose Grotesque style clearly influenced his later work. By 1573 he had provided tables, chairs, wood panelling and vaults for Fugger’s house. Other commissions from the Fugger family followed: there is documentary evidence of a sizeable commission for Marx Fugger, probably for his burial chapel (the Andreaskapelle) in the abbey of SS Ulrich and Afra at Augsburg. Its decoration and furnishings made between 1578 and 1584 included a large carved altar (1580) and choir-stalls (1581), which are generally attributed to Dietrich. The design for the marble screen enclosing the Fugger chapel may also have been by Dietrich. The figures of the apostles on the screen can be ascribed to Hubert Gerhard and Pallago, with whom Dietrich again collaborated from 1582 at Hans Fugger’s country house at Kirchheim an der Mindel. In 1582 he was commissioned to make the wooden ceiling and doorways of the Banqueting Hall and the adjoining rooms. The coffered ceiling (see fig.) covers an area of 375 sq. m, using different woods to produce a subtle range of colours. With its rich ornamentation of mouldings, cartouches, garlands of flowers and masks, it is a remarkable example of the German late Renaissance style.
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