Johann Friedrich Overbeck
German, 1789–1869
Kneeling Pilgrim with Cross and Book
INV-1414
Johann Friedrich Overbeck
German, 1789–18691826
Kneeling Pilgrim with Cross and Book
Johann Friedrich Overbeck German, 1789–1869 →etchingprint
Date
1826
Medium
Etching on white wove paper
Dimensions
Plate: 11.3 × 7.5 cm (4 1/2 × 3 in.); Sheet: 14.2 × 10.2 cm (5 5/8 × 4 1/16 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
Executed during Johann Friedrich Overbeck’s stay in Rome, Kneeling Pilgrim with Cross and Book provides the viewer with an insight into the artist’s spiritual conviction. Overbeck, a founding member of the Brotherhood of Saint Luke, or the Nazarene movement, viewed art as a way to regenerate religiosity in society. The Nazarenes showed their devotion to God by adapting the styles and ideas of the Renaissance. Overbeck’s sophisticated use of etching, exemplified by delicate cross-hatching and fine lines, produced an image that evokes religious depictions of the past, thus promoting traditional Christian sentiments to an increasingly materialistic society.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
