Christoph Heinrich Kniep

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.

Christoph Heinrich Kniep
Selfportrait
Born1755
Hildesheim
Died11 July 1825
Naples
NationalityGerman
OccupationPainter

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
  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
  • 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.

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 (NDB) (in German), 12, Berlin: Duncker & Humblot, pp. 181–182; (full text online)


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