1812 (ca.), Caspar David Friedrich, Cross in the Mountains -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: A smoldering glow lends an otherworldly quality to this crucifix poised over a rivulet of water. Plants around the pool are brown and dying, their barren branches mirroring the crown of thorns on the sculpture of the crucified Christ. In the background, soaring evergreens flank a church facade that resembles the famous Marienkirche (Church of Saint Mary) in Neubrandenburg, the birthplace of Friedrich's parents. The visual kinship between the trees and the church in this painting evokes period notions of nature as God's cathedral–and, more specifically, the belief that fir trees inspired Gothic religious architecture.
1812 (ca.), Caspar David Friedrich, Cross in the Mountains -- Metropolitan Museum of Art (New York) (special exhibition)
From the museum label: A smoldering glow lends an otherworldly quality to this crucifix poised over a rivulet of water. Plants around the pool are brown and dying, their barren branches mirroring the crown of thorns on the sculpture of the crucified Christ. In the background, soaring evergreens flank a church facade that resembles the famous Marienkirche (Church of Saint Mary) in Neubrandenburg, the birthplace of Friedrich's parents. The visual kinship between the trees and the church in this painting evokes period notions of nature as God's cathedral–and, more specifically, the belief that fir trees inspired Gothic religious architecture.