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Christoph Heinrich Kniep

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Christoph Heinrich Kniep
Selfportrait
Born1755
Died11 July 1825
NationalityGerman
OccupationPainter

Christoph Heinrich Kniep (1755–1825), was a German painter. He is renowned for accompanying Goethe in his Italian Journey to Naples, Paestum and Sicily, executing several drawings whilst there.

Initially, he worked as a portrait artist, then in 1781 he traveled to Italy, where he painted primarily vistas and landscapes. He met Goethe in Naples, being introduced to him by a mutual friend, the artist Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein. After separating from Goethe on his return from Sicily, Kniep remained in Naples, where he died in 1825.[1]

View of the Paestum temples, drawn whilst there with Goethe.

Kniep's drawings of Paestum and Pompeii are of extraordinary detail, and have also been used as archaeological documents.[2]

Notes

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  1. ^ Cf. Georg Striehl, Der Zeichner Christoph Heinrich Kniep (1755–1825) (1998); also Joseph Eduard Wessely, Kniep, Christoph Heinrich (1882).
  2. ^ Cf. Georg Striehl, op. cit.

References

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  • 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 1882, S. 288.
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Media related to Christoph Heinrich Kniep at Wikimedia Commons

  • Auszüge aus Georg Striehl: Der Zeichner Christoph Heinrich Kniep
  • Hans-Wolf Jäger (1980), "Kniep, Christoph Heinrich", Neue Deutsche Biographie (in German), vol. 12, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 181–182; (full text online)