Christoph Heinrich Kniep (1755–1825), was a German painter. He is renowned for accompanying

Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as treat ...

in his

Italian Journey ''Italian Journey'' (in the German original: ) is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's report on his travels to Italy from 1786 to 1788 that was published in 1816 & 1817. The book is based on Goethe's diaries and is smoothed in style, lacks the sponta ...

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

Paestum Paestum ( , , ) was a major ancient Greek city on the coast of the Tyrrhenian Sea in Magna Graecia (southern Italy). The ruins of Paestum are famous for their three ancient Greek temples in the Doric order, dating from about 550 to 450 BC, whic ...

and

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, executing several drawings whilst there. Initially, he worked as a portrait artist, then in 1781 he traveled to

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

, where he painted primarily vistas and landscapes. He met Goethe in

, being introduced to him by a mutual friend, the artist

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, known as the ''Goethe Tischbein'' (15 February 1751 in Haina – 26 February 1829 in Eutin), was a German painter from the Tischbein family of artists. Biography Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein was born on 15 ...

. After separating from Goethe on his return from Sicily, Kniep remained in Naples, where he died in 1825. Kniep4

Kniep's drawings of

and

Pompeii Pompeii (, ) was an ancient city located in what is now the ''comune'' of Pompei near Naples in the Campania region of Italy. Pompeii, along with Herculaneum and many villas in the surrounding area (e.g. at Boscoreale, Stabiae), was buried ...

are of extraordinary detail, and have also been used as archaeological documents.Cf. Georg Striehl, ''op. cit.''

Notes

References

* Georg Striehl, ''Der Zeichner Christoph Heinrich Kniep (1755–1825). Landschaftsauffassung und Antikenrezeption'', Hildesheim, 1998. * Joseph Eduard Wessely, ''Kniep, Christoph Heinrich'', in ''Allgemeine Deutsche Biographie'', Band 16, Duncker & Humblot,

Leipzig Leipzig ( , ; Upper Saxon: ) is the most populous city in the German state of Saxony. Leipzig's population of 605,407 inhabitants (1.1 million in the larger urban zone) as of 2021 places the city as Germany's eighth most populous, as wel ...

1882, S. 288.

External links

Auszüge aus Georg Striehl: Der Zeichner Christoph Heinrich Kniep
* 1755 births 1825 deaths 18th-century German painters 18th-century German male artists German male painters 19th-century German painters 19th-century German male artists People from Hildesheim {{Germany-painter-stub