Christoph Orth: ‘Here is the key to everything.’ Goethe and Kniep’s journey to Sicily

In the context of the exhibition Italy in Lines. Master Drawings by Christoph Heinrich Kniep

For Goethe, the experience of Sicily was the defining moment of his journey through Italy. At this ‘wondrous point, towards which so many rays of world history are directed,’ as he himself wrote, his diverse interests converged: mythological and artistic as well as geological and scientific. This included the search for the original plant in the botanical garden of Palermo. Sicily thus became a key moment in his understanding of the world. He was accompanied by Christoph Heinrich Kniep, whose drawings made during the journey captured Goethe’s perception of the island and at the same time provide a deep insight into his world of thoughts and images.

Art historian Dr Christoph Orth has been curator of the graphic collections at the museums of the Klassik Stiftung Weimar since 2021, where he is responsible for Goethe’s collection of art on paper, for example. His work focuses on the art of drawing in the early modern period and the 19th century. His most recent publications include works on Goethe and Caspar David Friedrich.