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Carl Wilhelm I Kolbe

The Dance

1799
engraving

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In the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland · as of July 2026

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FROM THE CLEVELAND MUSEUM OF ART’S CATALOG

The Dance represents a stylistic fusion of classicism and scientific naturalism that dominated landscape art at the end of the 18th century. The circle of nudes dancing to a satyr’s music, ancient ruins, and sacrificial alter evoke a classical idyll, while the surrounding landscape, particularly the tree and foreground burdocks, are rendered with botanical precision.

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