with a bit of Romantic nationalism:
From artdaily.org for today:
AMSTERDAM.- The Hermitage Amsterdam is to end its stay on Nieuwe Herengracht with a remarkable finale. For the first time ever all the works by Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) from the collection of the Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg will be loaned for a special exhibition about this renowned German artist ... [Friedrich:]`For our art critics our German sun, moon, lakes and rivers are not enough. If the aim is elevated art and beauty, it must all be Italian.' ... he decided not to journey to Italy to learn about art, but found inspiration in the landscapes of his surroundings: Rügen, Rostock, the country around Dresden and the Giant Mountains. http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=27330&int_modo=1 Caspar Friedrich (1774-1840). Friedrich rejected the conventional formula of recent neoclassical painting in favor of depicting nature and the German landscape, often with an emphasis on spirituality, nationalism, and the past. http://www.nga.gov/press/exh/160/index.shtm
[Friedrich:]`For our art critics our German sun, moon, lakes and rivers are not enough. If the aim is elevated art and beauty, it must all be Italian.'
... he decided not to journey to Italy to learn about art, but found inspiration in the landscapes of his surroundings: Rügen, Rostock, the country around Dresden and the Giant Mountains.
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=27330&int_modo=1
Caspar Friedrich (1774-1840). Friedrich rejected the conventional formula of recent neoclassical painting in favor of depicting nature and the German landscape, often with an emphasis on spirituality, nationalism, and the past.
http://www.nga.gov/press/exh/160/index.shtm
(Could be a Tolkien illustration).
As it happens, there is another exhibition referred to today in artdaily.com which features exactly the kind of really constructed, Tolkien-illustration type painting popular at the time Friedrich was working. But even Hackert's works were seen as rather naturalistic for the period before Friedrich:
HAMBURG.- Jakob Philipp Hackert (1737-1807) regarded landscapes as natural events, and his precisely observed depictions of geological and atmospheric phenomena marked a turning point in 18th-century landscape painting. For the first time, a comprehensive exhibition of Hackert's work is being presented at the Hamburger Kunsthalle in cooperation with the Klassik Stiftung Weimar (Foundation of Weimar Classics). ... he spent the greater part of his life working in Italy. Here he established his reputation as an internationally acclaimed artist and contributed greatly to shaping the image of Italy before 1800. Besides veduta, harbour views and hunting scenes, Hackert above all painted atmospheric landscapes in the Roman Campagna, Tuscany and parts of Southern Italy such as Naples and Sicily. http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=27453
... he spent the greater part of his life working in Italy. Here he established his reputation as an internationally acclaimed artist and contributed greatly to shaping the image of Italy before 1800. Besides veduta, harbour views and hunting scenes, Hackert above all painted atmospheric landscapes in the Roman Campagna, Tuscany and parts of Southern Italy such as Naples and Sicily.
http://www.artdaily.org/index.asp?int_sec=11&int_new=27453
