Käthe Kollwitz
At the Church Wall
1893
Etching, line etching, drypoint, and brush etching
Käthe Kollwitz Museum Berlin
A comparison reveals that Käthe Kollwitz was inspired by existing depictions when she first began her artistic interpretation of the figure of Gretchen. While Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) shows the girl unhappy in love, the artist uses the seated motif for the deeply despairing Gretchen, who realizes she is pregnant out of wedlock.