A gallery of Dietrich von Bern portraits from different times and places, plus some images of his historical namesake, King Theodoric the Great, who of course was not a reckless warrior running around in search of dragons. Now I can stroll among these portraits in my Study and marvel at the transfigurating powers of fame...
Statue of Dietrich/Theodoric. As for the plate armour, to whichever historical figure Dietrich is related, it's fairly certain that he lived about the 5th century. Hence, no plate armour. As for the moustache, did the sculptor believe this way he could get around the fact that the Saga says Dietrich could not grow a *beard*? (It's about being a youthful representation of an ancient Sun God, I think, but I can'd find the source.) Anyway I'd love to see the Albrecht Durer original.
Some nice images from Timeless Myths. I like especially the engraving on the left, I wish I could know who the author is. There's also dear old Hildibrands in the background!
Rosengarten painting by Alan Lee. I'm *really* flattered that the renowned Tolkien illustrator devoted his attention to Dietrich!
Nice series of images by a modern author, Maria Rehm. She made Dietrich handsome. Very good.
More book illustrations. I love the one where Dietrich grabs the dwarf. He's dressed like Robin Hood, but they gave him red hair. The other one would be great for a later portrait, apart for the beard.
Illustrations relative to the Nibelungen. Scary Dietrich. All right, he's supposed to be, but...
Frescoes. The first one represents three heroes of the legend: Dietrich, Siegfried, Dietleib. The second one is a stag hunt, possibly the Wild Hunt. (please note red hair.)
Still have to understand what this is. Men in tights fighting, labelled with Dietrich's name... (Page taken down. I'll put up the pictures as soon as I can.)
Lovely illuminated page showing Dietrich fighting with Sigfried and spouting flames, as befitting to his alleged status of Sun god.
Theodoric the Great
The famous portrait on a medal. Moustache??? Stunning gaze; and it's so similar to an alleged portrait of his daughter Amalasuntha, here on the right.
This mosaic is strange. It's supposed to be a mosaic portraying King Theodoric in Ravenna, I don't know exactly where. But I thought the one above was the only extant portrait and that all mosaics portraying Theodoric had been destroyed during Byzantine rule. No other info. UPDATE: Aelfwine solved the mystery in his Ravenna article: no, it's probably not Theodoric.
This one on the left is very idealized, but I would not mind looking like that. What's on the scroll? "Sic est llam et medendi (?) gens ... frequenter salus..." Probably a quote from some Cassiodorus brief. I thought it was the Edictum Theodoricis Regis but it isn't. Hey, I'm an ignorant Goth, someone give me a hand here.
Another nice illuminated page. Armour is more or less right - at least it's not plate. But I think they confused him with Dietrich once again.
Bas-relief. His horse is bowing to St. Ellero. Now I'd like to find the bas-reliefs of St. Zeno in Verona where you see him plunged inside a volcano. But I've found a really cool painting of him joining the Wild Hunt.
One word for this one on the left: scary. About XVI or XVII century, no other info.
From "The Cambridge Medieval History", volume I-II (I have the Italian edition so I'm not sure where this falls), 1911, 1913, Cambridge University Press. Caption: "Ring with alleged portrait of Theodoric: gold and amethyst (V c.) Bern, private collection." [where Bern here is actually Bern, not Verona, of course] It doesn't look much like the famous medal. The monogram *looks* like Theodoric's monogram on various coins, though the D is not so much in evidence, looking more like an E.
