The German landscape draughtsman Christoph Heinrich Kniep began his career as a portrait painter in Germany, working in Hannover, Kassel, Lübeck and Berlin, before travelling to Italy in 1782. He settled first in Rome, drawing Italian landscapes and making copies of classical* works of art, and from 1785 onwards lived in Naples.

In Italy Kniep was active among the circle of artists around Jacob Philipp Hackert and Johann Heinrich Tischbein, both of whom were a considerable influence on his style. It was through Tischbein that he met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe in Naples, and Kniep accompanied the writer on his voyage through Southern Italy and Sicily, between 1786 and 1788.

Unlike many other German artists, however, Kniep con...