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Caspar David Friedrich

1774-1840 Germany/Romanticism

 

Brief Biography-Caspar David Friedrich was born in the town of Greifswald. His father, a successful candle maker, was a zealous protestant who rigorously brought his nine children up. Unfortunately, Caspar was deeply affected by a few deaths in the family during his youth. His mother died when he was seven, and two sisters died before his brother tragically drowned trying to save him during a skating accident.
The artist Johann Gottfried Quistorp first tutored Friedrich and encouraged him to concentrate on landscape painting. In 1794, he entered the Copenhagen Academy, but he wanted to be more impressed by the strictly academic approach to art there. So instead, he went to Dresden in 1798 and never ventured outside Germany again. The Dresden Romantics group influenced his train of thought; they were the first to use Romanticism.
In 1803, he attempted suicide through depression, turning him into a melancholy man. However, his works became well recognised, and he lived relatively well. In 1805, he won an award presented by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe for sepia paintings in his annual art competition in Weimar. His standing improved somewhat when his pictures, Abbey in the Oakwood and Monk by the Sea, got purchased by the Prussian Crown Prince, who made him a member of the Berlin Academy in 1810. He married in 1818 and gained a stipend from the Dresden Academy. The Norwegian artist Johann Christian Dahl became a good friend and lived in the same house in Dresden.
In his later years, his health failed gradually, and in 1825 he had the first of several strokes. By the time he died in 1840, he was sadly a forgotten artist.

 

Click an Image to Enlarge

Winter Landscape

Winter Landscape

Landscape

Figures in an Extensive Landscape at Sunset

The Monk

The Monk by the Sea

Sea Shore

Sea Shore in Moonlight

Heroes' Graves

Old Heroes' Graves

Abbey-Oakwoods

Abby in the Oakwoods

View of a Harbour

View of a Harbour

Contemplating

Contemplating the Moon

Graveyard

Graveyard Under Snow

Chalk Cliffs on Rugen

Chalk Cliffs on Rugen

Moonrise

Moonrise over the sea

Greifwald Harbour

Greifwald Harbour

Evening

Evening

Village Landscape

Village Landscape in Morning Light

In his Studio

Caspar David Friedrich in his Studio

The Large Enclosure

The Large Enclosure near Dresden

The Cross

The Cross Beside The Baltic

Cemetery Entrance

Cemetery Entrance

The Watzmann

The Watzmann

Woman at Window

Woman At Window

Morning

Morning

Riesengebirge

Morning in Riesengebirge

Wanderer

Wanderer above the Mists

The Giant Mountains

The Giant Mountains

Sisters on a Balcony

isters on a Balcony

Stages of Life

Stages of Life

Morning by the sea

Morning by the sea

Artic Shipwreck

Artic Shipwreck

Setting Sun

Woman in the Setting Sun

Ruins of Eldena

Ruins of Eldena Abbey

Oak Tree

Oak Tree in the Snow

The Cross

Tetschen Altar The Cross in the Mountains

stop at the harvest

stop at the hay harvest