Unit 4 - Romanticism - Sketchbook

Brief biography of Caspar David Friedrich
Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was a German
Romantic painter, renowned for his landscapes, and
considered one of the most prominent artists of his time.
His works are characterised by the use of silhouettes
against skies, fog, trees, ruins and many allegorical
elements. In his work, Friedrich opposed to the classical
themes and explored the concept of individual,
contemplated the nature, and its power over human.
Friedrich lost his mother, two of his sisters and a brother
at a very young age, which amalgamated with his rather
strict upbringing can be seen in his pieces in form of the
austere compositions, muted palette, but most importantly
his choice of the subject matter. Early in his career,
Friedrich established a rather major fame for painting
landscapes. In 1810, Friedrich was elected to the Berlin
▲Portrait of Caspar David Friedrich by
Gerhard von Kugelgen, c. 1810-20
Academy, in 1816, the Dresden Academy, and in 1824 he became an Associate Professor of
Landscape Painting at the latter. Although the beginning of Friedrich’s career may be considered
quite successful, later during his lifetime his enviable reputation faded and in 1840 he died in
poverty, five years after a stroke which caused a paralysis of some limbs, and thus reduced his
ability as a painter.
The naturalism included in his
visionary landscapes influenced
many later artists such as Edvard
Munch or Paul Nash, and his
contemporaries like John Constable
and JMW Turner. The relationship
with the last two mentioned artists
was rather reciprocal as their work
had a considerable influence of
Friedrich’s work as well.
▲ Boat on the Shore, Moonrise; Caspar
David Friedrich, 1839, Sepia over pencil;
work created shortly before Friedrich’s
death. Due to his paralysis in the last years
of his life Friedrich mostly worked in Sepia.
11