Cleveland Museum of Art

Chloe

Carl Wilhelm I Kolbe

Date

1805

Medium

etching on chine appliqué

Culture

Germany

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

In this etching, Chloe, an alternate name for Demeter, Greek goddess of agriculture and fertility, reclines in a lush landscape complete with various figures, voluminous trees, a Greek temple, and a dramatic rockface. Less a narrative than a pastoral idyll, the scene evokes Romantic ideals circulating in Germany at the time that cast the relationship between humans and nature as one of direct, sometimes spiritual, experience. Carl Wilhelm Kolbe’s expert etching technique allows for both sweeping views and minute detail in one composition. This work was printed on a chine collé (or appliqué), a sheet of translucent paper that has a slight sheen, affording a precious quality to the print.

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