Landscape Art and Romantic Nationalism in Germany and America

Philipp Otto Runge (German, 1777-1810), Daybreak, 1805, engraving from the series, Tageszeiten (Times of Day)

Philipp Otto Runge, Morning, 1808, oil on canvas, 43 x 34 in

Friedrich Overbeck, Portrait of Franz Pforr, 1810, oil on canvas, 24 x 18 in

Friedrich Overbeck (1789-1869), Portrait of Franz Pforr, 1810Albrecht Durer (1471-1528), Portrait of Oswolt Krel, 1499

What does the cross on the skull signify?

Franz Pforr (German, 1788-1812), Count Rudolph of Hapsburg and the Priest, 1809-10, oil on canvas, 18 x 21 in.

Caspar David Friedrich (German 1774-1840), Monk by the Sea, 1809-10, oil on canvas, 43x68 in. How does this work seize on “the tragedy of landscape”?

Caspar David Friedrich, detail of Monk by the Sea, 1809-10, oil on canvas, 43x68 in. “Art stands as the mediator between nature and humanity. The original is too great and too sublime for the multitude to grasp.” (CDF)

Caspar David Friedrich, Abbey in the Oak Forest, 1809-10, oil on canvas, 39 x 67 in

Caspar David Friedrich, Large Enclosure near Dresden, 1832, oil, 29x40 in. Does the swamp in the foreground look like the earth with continents and masses – a “Weltlandschaft (world landscape)?

Caspar David Friedrich, Hill and Ploughed Field near Dresden, 1824-8, oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in. Dresden in the distance as a “celestial city”?

Benjamin West (American, 1738-1820), about 1763. National Gallery of Art

President of the Royal Academy in London from 1792 until his death, he received many commissions from George III and other English patrons, and directly influenced three generations of American artists in London.

Benjamin West, The Death of General Wolfe, 1771, oil on canvas, National Gallery of Canada, Ottowa

John Vanderlyn, Marius Amidst the Ruins of Carthage, 1807, oil on canvas, 87x68 in

Thomas Cole, View of the Round-Top in the Catskill Mountains, 1827, oil on canvas, 19 x 25 in

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: The Savage State, 1836, 63 x 39 in, The New York Historical Society

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: The Arcadian or Pastoral State, 1836, 63 x 39 in, The New York Historical Society

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: The Consumation, 1836, 63 x 39 in, The New York Historical Society

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Destruction, 1836, 63 x 39 in, The New York Historical Society

Thomas Cole, The Course of Empire: Desolation, 1836, 63 x 39 in, The New York Historical Society

Asher B. Durand, Landscape, Progress, 1853, oil on canvas, 48x72in

George Inness, The Lackawanna Valley, 1857, oil on canvas, 34x50 in

Fitz Hugh Lane, Brace’s Rock, Brace’s Cove, 1864, oil on canvas, 10x15

John Frederick Kensett, Lake George, 1869, oil on canvas, 44 x 66 in

Frederick Edwin Church, Cotopaxi, 1860, oil on canvas, 40 x 64in

Frederick Edwin Church, Twilight in the Wilderness, 1860, oil, 40 x 64 in