Cleveland Museum of Art

Footbridge with Cross before Trees at a River

Caspar David Friedrich

Date

c.1803

Medium

etching

Culture

Germany, 19th century

Department

Prints

Institution

Cleveland Museum of Art

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.

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