Northern Landscape, Spring
c. 1825
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
overall: 35.3 × 49.1 cm (13 7/8 × 19 5/16 in.) framed: 53.98 × 67.63 × 7.62 cm (21 1/4 × 26 5/8 × 3 in.)
Classification
Painting
Department
CF
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Patrons' Permanent Fund
Accession Number
2004.113.1
Art Historical Context
Caspar David Friedrich, a leading figure of German Romanticism, created this intimate oil on canvas around 1825 to capture the quiet renewal of a northern spring. Working during an era when artists turned toward emotion and the natural world, Friedrich used delicate brushwork and luminous light effects to evoke the sublime power of the landscape. The modest scale of the painting—roughly 35 by 49 centimeters—invites close, personal viewing, encouraging visitors to feel the crisp air and emerging growth of the season. Oil on canvas allowed Friedrich to layer translucent glazes that heighten the...
About the Artist
Caspar David Friedrich · 1774–1840
Leading artist of the German Romantic movement. He was particularly known for his symbolic and atmospheric treatment of landscape.