Christoph Nathe

1753 Nieder-Bielau – 1806 Schadewalde

All his life Christoph Nathe took an intense interest in the various printmaking techniques and worked systematically on the publication of his entire graphic œuvre. His premature death put an end to this project, however, and the collection “Sammlung radirter Blätter”, containing 48 plates, was issued posthumously in 1808 by Karl Christian Heinrich Rost, a publisher from Leipzig. Nathe had made his first ventures into etching in the late 1770s while studying in Leipzig and it seems likely that he was introduced to the technique by his teacher, Adam Friedrich Oeser. The early prints show the influence of the landscape etchings of Johann Christian Klengel (1751–1824), who was then held in high esteem and had an extensive printed œuvre to his credit. However, it was not long before Nathe developed an even greater technical mastery and an unmistakable personal style which was characterized by a highly concentrated style of drawing and an uncanny sense of the atmospheric gradations of landscape (see Anke Fröhlich, “Einer der denkendsten Künstler unserer Zeit”. Christoph Nathe 1753–1806, Bautzen 2008, pp. 122–128).