Landscape; a small island with two trees surrounded by water on the left; a tree by a cottage on the right

Carl Wilhelm Kolbe

ca. 1793–94 · Pen and brown ink on paper set into blue paper mat · Drawings and Prints

Kolbe was a prolific printmaker and draftsman. His primary subject was landscape. His works range from the expected to the surreal. Some of his etchings depict landscapes composed of enormous cabbage leaves with classical figures cavorting through the scene.This full landscape is a more traditional forest scene. Kolbe was no doubt inspired by precendents by seventeenth-century Dutch landscapists Anthonie Waterloo and Jacob Ruisdael that feature rugged landscapes with lively twisting and bending trees.

Artist

Carl Wilhelm Kolbe

Date

ca. 1793–94

Medium

Pen and brown ink on paper set into blue paper mat

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Bequest of Harvey Salzman, 2022