Die Vier Tageszeiten (The Four Times of Day)

Philipp Otto Runge (1777–1810) was a German artist, draftsman, painter, and color theorist. Runge and Caspar David Friedrich are often regarded as the leading painters of the German Romantic movement, and he is frequently compared with William Blake by art historians. His majestic set of four engravings symbolize the eternal cycle of life and nature, reflecting the artist’s philosophical and mystical views. They integrate floral motifs, angelic figures, and intricate frames to convey themes of birth, growth, decay, and renewal. Runge drew inspiration from Jakob Böhme's mysticism and shared ideas with Romantic poets like Novalis and Ludwig Tieck. The engravings were but part of a larger project, which included plans to create four monumental murals, 50 square meters each, upon which he labored for eight years. Sadly only one painting was completed before Runge's untimely death in 1810, at the age of 33. The engravings are notable for their large size, indicating they were intended to be hung in the elegant reception and drawing rooms of Napoleonic Germany. Johann Wolfgang von Goethe admired the series, famously describing them as 'beautiful and crazy at the same time.'

The first edition of 25 prints was published in 1805, followed by a larger edition in 1807, from which the present lot comes.