A Shepherd and Muses by a Waterfall Gm-00050901

Christoph Henrich Kniep (German, 1748–1825) In this imaginary classical landscape, Christoph Heinrich Kniep conveyed nature's superhuman might as a huge waterfall dwarfing the antique figures relaxing below. Kniep enhanced the waterfall's visual impact by framing it with a shaded arch of massive boulders; his paper's immense size also emphasizes the cascade's force.

Kniep spent most of his life in Italy, where he was influenced by the sun-drenched, idealized classical landscapes of his French predecessor Claude Lorrain. Yet Kniep overlaid Claude's legacy with the late 1700s concept of the Sublime, whose purpose was to inspire a noble and lofty awe by depicting powerful natural phenomena.

Despite the drawing's large scale, Kniep rendered each element with a precision achieved, no doubt, by the "sharpening and resharpening of the best English pencils" that Johann Wolfgang von Goethe had noted during their trip to Italy together in 1787 and 1788. Many of the detailed sketches Kniep made during the trip were the basis for his later, more finished, imaginary landscapes such as this one. Kniep's intense fascination with the vegetation is indicative of German Neoclassicists' burgeoning scientific interests.

Our Cards are all printed on 100% cotton tree-free archival paper. All Cards include a recycled kraft envelope in a protective sleeve individually hand wrapped for you. Each card is printed one at a time and hand bound here in Lugano, Switzerland. We ship all over the world via SwissPost. Please allow 5-9 business days for us to make them and 5-7 business days for transit. Art Prints are printed on heavy matte finish German art paper using the finest Canon archival inks. Frame is black natural with a white mattboard and Acrylite glazing.

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Artwork in this collection is from The J. Paul Getty Museum. Reproduction rights are reserved by the copyright owner and used under license by Archivea GmbH.