Heinrich Wolff (1875-1940) was one of the most famous and popular graphic artists of East Prussia. He worked in various techniques, but especially liked to make etchings and aquatints - easel graphics, which is printed with a metal plate with a pattern scratched on it. Wolff appreciated this technique for its resemblance to delicate watercolor drawings. He painted portraits, genre scenes, architectural landscapes and urban views. His etchings were a huge success and were often exhibited in European capitals.

Wolff’s popularity was greatly promoted by fashion: in the 1880s Germany saw the flourishing of the graphic art. In particular, etching, which previously had been used mainly to create copies from famous paintings or sketches, was once again in the center of public attention. Given this background, Wolff quickly gained the fame of one of the most talented masters of printed graphics. In addition, he was one of teachers at the Königsberg Academy of Arts and succeeded in promoting a love of graphics among his students. He himself studied first at the Berlin Academy of Arts and then in Munich, where his teacher was Peter Halm, a famous German engraver and enthusiast of Rembrandt.

When Wolff was working on the Kneiphof Town Hall, there was a museum of history of the city in the place, and also there was a printing house nearby, to which the artist often referred.

This graphic sheet perfectly demonstrates Wolff’s desire to convey in detail the picture of the world and his faithfulness to the art of realism. The artist depicted here one of the island parts of Königsberg, which today is called the island of Immanuel Kant, and the local town hall. He was an expert in working with the light and air environment - this is why his graphic works acquired an impressionistic hue. Due to the light and elegant touch of the artist the work preserves the freshness and liveliness of impression. As the German poet Agnes Miegel wrote, Wolff ‘paved the way for a whole generation of graphic artists, most of whom were his students.’