Dante Crosses the Stream of Blood of the Tyrants and Murderers on the Back of Nessus the Centaur - Joseph Anton Koch

Mr. and Mrs. William O. Hunt, Harold Joachim Memorial Endowment Fund

"Dante Crosses the Stream of Blood of the Tyrants and Murderers on the Back of Nessus the Centaur" by Joseph Anton Koch (1808) Etching in black on cream laid paper.

Commentary

"Dante Crosses the Stream of Blood of the Tyrants and Murderers on the Back of Nessus the Centaur" by Joseph Anton Koch (1808) invites a close look at how form and feeling work together. The print-based method rewards close view ing, where line, texture, and contrast do most of the expressive work. Themes to notice include prints and drawing. This piece is held in the source collection's Prints and Drawings collection. Joseph Anton Koch is the artist behind this work. A useful anchor for reading the piece: Joseph Anton Koch German, 1768-1839. The work is cataloged within a Germany cultural context. How to look at this work: It is cataloged as prints and drawing, which gives a clue to how the museum frames the object. Its medium (Etching in black on cream laid paper) affects texture, durability, and how detail reads at different distances. Its listed dimensions (39.8 × 31.4 cm (15 11/16 × 12 3/8 in.)) suggest how intimate or monumental it may feel in person. Subject cues from the catalog include prints and drawing. Compare this reading with the museum record at the source collection: https://www.artic.edu/artworks/273117

Sources: Art Institute of Chicago; Art Institute of Chicago / Public Records; Art Institute of Chicago Collection Data