Footbridge with Cross before Trees at a River

Landscape was Caspar David Friedrich’s preferred subject, and for him spending time outdoors was a religious and transcendent experience. Here, the artist presented the terrain of Northern Germany as expansive and emphasized the smallness of man next to God’s creation. The fine, dense etched lines used to depict the landscape are juxtaposed with the broad strokes that make up the sky and horizon. Friedrich experimented with printmaking for only five years, and this print is one of just a few existing impressions.

An etching depicts a horizontal landscape. Fine hatching and cross-hatching create a river flowing through the foreground toward our right. In the middle ground, a wooden footbridge with a cross-shaped post spans the water. Behind it, pointed and rounded trees cluster together. To our left, a grassy hill rises with a single tree. Low hills sit on the horizon under a light sky textured with thin, horizontal lines.

Footbridge with Cross before Trees at a River

c.1803

Caspar David Friedrich

(German, 1774–1840)

Germany, 19th century

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