Today more perhaps than at any time since Caspar David Friedrich’s death almost 180 years ago, his sublime and timeless landscapes are being appreciated by artists and public alike.The artistic embodiment of landscape painting of the Romantic era, Friedrich strove to express mood and meaning through nature, his aesthetic informed by his Protestant upbringing and the idea of divine creation manifesting itself in the natural world.
On 12 December in London, Sotheby’s will offer two landscapes by Friedrich, each work a distillation ofthe artist’s search for deeper meaning within the appearance of nature.
Both paintings come to auction with distinguished provenance:
Landschaft mit Gebirgssee am Morgen (Landscape with Mountain Lake, Morning) from the collection of the late Dr Erika Pohl-Ströher (est. £2-3 million/ €2.2-3.4 million*)
and Sonnenblick im Riesengebirge (Sunburst in the Giant Mountains)by descent through the family of the preeminent German-Swiss art dealer DrFritz Nathan (est. £500,000-700,000/ €560,000-780,000).
Paintings by Friedrich rarely appear at auction –the emergence of these two works onto the market marks the first time in twelve years since an oil by the artist came under the hammer at Sotheby’s.
Both paintings come to auction with distinguished provenance:
Landschaft mit Gebirgssee am Morgen (Landscape with Mountain Lake, Morning)oil on canvas, 71.5 by 93cm
Landschaft mit Gebirgssee am Morgen (Landscape with Mountain Lake, Morning) from the collection of the late Dr Erika Pohl-Ströher (est. £2-3 million/ €2.2-3.4 million*)
Sonnenblick im Riesengebirge (Sunburst in the Giant Mountains)oil on canvas, 25.5 by 32cm
and Sonnenblick im Riesengebirge (Sunburst in the Giant Mountains)by descent through the family of the preeminent German-Swiss art dealer DrFritz Nathan (est. £500,000-700,000/ €560,000-780,000).
Paintings by Friedrich rarely appear at auction –the emergence of these two works onto the market marks the first time in twelve years since an oil by the artist came under the hammer at Sotheby’s.