Caspar David Friedrich. The Art of Drawing

Dedicated to the works on paper of Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), this catalogue offers the reader a unique perspective on the function of drawing in his creative process while also revealing the substantive beauty of his works. Meticulously rendered en plein air, these rarely seen works (from major European museums and private collections) were subsequently utilized by the artist to construct the sublime landscapes that have made him the most celebrated painter of German Romanticism. The nearly 70 works by Friedrich illustrated here - executed in pencil, gouache and watercolor - range from studies realized en plein air to finished works and are organized according to recurring themes in his oeuvre - architecture, ruins, mountains, trees and plants, among others. They are accompanied by illuminating essays and entries on each work written by noted Friedrich scholars Christina Grummt, Helmut Börsch-Supan and Werner Busch.