Couple of Lovers sitting under a Bush of Herbages beside a Spring, 1830–1835
Etching with drypoint
State/print versionIV/IV
Panel dimensions35,7 × 46,3 cm
Sheet dimensions40,5 × 50,8 cm
About the workA thicket of gigantic herbs – a typical Kräuterstück, or “herb patch” – characterises the work of Carl Wilhelm Kolbe, a graphic artist of landscapes and a linguist who worked primarily at the court in Dessau. The dense vegetation does not allow for any view into the distance, while miniature figures enhance the sense of fantasy. Kolbe’s pictorial explorations aspire, in his words, to “conjure up again on paper” subject matter “from the abundance” of the imagination. When the surrealist artist Max Ernst rediscovered Kolbe’s magical worlds, created some 200 years earlier, he found them to be an important source of inspiration.
AccessionAccession from the bequest of Hetjens Collection/Hetjens-Museum 1928
Provenance[...]; 1928 übernommen vom Hetjens-Museum, Düsseldorf
Inventory numberK 1928-1917
