Woodland Scene with Festooned Grapevines and a Buffalo Herd in the Distance

Currently not on view

Woodland Scene with Festooned Grapevines and a Buffalo Herd in the Distance

1796

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (called Goethe-Tischbein) (German, 1751–1829)

While employed as director of the art academy in the Kingdom of Naples during the 1790s, Wilhelm Tischbein conceived the idea of creating an illustrated edition of Homer’s Odyssey using classical sculptures of Greek heroes and scenes on antique cameos and vases as his models. That the ancient method of grape growing depicted in this etching was still practiced in parts of southern Italy prompted Tischbein to use it as the introductory plate to a section devoted to Odysseus’s encounter with the one-eyed giant Polyphemus.

Currently not on view

Object Details

Title:

Woodland Scene with Festooned Grapevines and a Buffalo Herd in the Distance
Frontispiece from Homer nach Antiken gezeichnet. Viertes Heft., Later published as plate XVII from Figures d'Homère dessinées d'après l'antique, vol. 1 (Metz, 1801)

Date:

1796

Artist:

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein (called Goethe-Tischbein) (German, 1751–1829)

Medium:

Etching (prepublication proof)

Dimensions:

Plate: 17 13/16 × 14 1/16 inches (45.2 × 35.7 cm) Sheet: 19 7/8 × 14 1/4 inches (50.5 × 36.2 cm)

Classification:

Prints

Credit Line:

The Muriel and Philip Berman Gift, acquired from the John S. Phillips bequest of 1876 to the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, with funds contributed by Muriel and Philip Berman, gifts (by exchange) of Lisa Norris Elkins, Bryant W. Langston, Samuel S. White 3rd and Vera White, with additional funds contributed by John Howard McFadden, Jr., Thomas Skelton Harrison, and the Philip H. and A.S.W. Rosenbach Foundation, 1985

Accession Number:

1985-52-14217

Geography:

Made in Naples, Italy, Europe

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Currently not on view