His first Wanderer appeared in a landscape in 1830, and from then many of his paintings had tiny figures standing with their back to the viewer. Were they self-portraits?
Fearnley
Two species are the pioneers, in the high Arctic and mountains across Europe. Their bark has formed canoes, and their sap is a sugary syrup that can be fermented into alcoholic drinks.
From major fires lighting the night sky, a vegetable market, the elegant houses of the Golden Bend, City Hall with Atlas above, to the most picturesque synagogue in Europe.
Paintings of the Grindelwald Glacier, and various Norwegian landscapes, he died of typhoid when he was only 39.
A Norwegian landscape painter who trained with JC Dahl in Dresden, and who shared themes with the German Romantic painters.
A polymath who was professor of obstetrics, he became Friedrich’s pupil in 1814. They shared locations and the use of Rückenfiguren.
Records of the Lower Grindelwald Glacier over 250 years, and paintings of those in the Alps, Greenland and Iceland. Catch them while you can, as they’re vanishing fast.
How the Rückenfigur passed from Friedrich via JC Dahl to Thomas Fearnley, then was reborn with Gustave Caillebotte.
The Grand Tour traditionally took young gentry through the Alps, where they could buy paintings of its sublime peaks.
Staffage – people, animals, birds, carts and ships – make a big difference to many landscape paintings. Have you met the Wanderer too?
