CARUS, Carl Gustav
(b. 1789, Leipzig, d. 1869, Dresden)

Pilgrim in a Rocky Valley

c. 1820
Oil on canvas, 28 x 22 cm
Nationalgalerie, Berlin

In this painting Carus adopted the view of a figure seen from behind which Friedrich had introduced; here he is hastening ahead of the viewer into the picture and anticipating his view.

In a Europe becoming remorselessly urban and industrial, the cloaked wanderer trudging away into high mountains with his pilgrim's staff, though painted in 1820, strikes a suitably symbolic farewell to the Romantic religion of nature.




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