Lot Essay
This painting was rediscovered in 1941, in Schloss Basedow, Mecklenburg, and described by Carl von Lorck, in his Fünf neuentdeckte Bilder von Caspar David Friedrich in the same year.
Fischerboot zwischen Findlingen am Ostseestrand can be placed amongst a group of paintings of evening and night seascapes from the early 1830s. This group was produced during a resurgence of creative activity in the work of the artist after a period of relative stagnation caused by illness. His increased expectation of death led to a new and subtle symbolism, emphasized by a heightened sensitivity towards the representation of light and a greater understanding of colour. The approaching sailboat represents forthcoming death, while the figures observe it and contemplate the closeness of the end of life. They are positioned between two large pointed monoliths which pierce the sky and demonstrate strength of faith before the gradually brightening horizon, which opens to the afterworld. In contrast with the naturalistic colour theories of his contemporaries, such as Goethe, Friedrich exaggerated the properties of light and colour, true to his Romantic ideal.
His exceptional ability to 'use' nature for his iconography was described by C. A. Nilson in 1833: 'His paintings are hieroglyphs of nature, whose specific states are highlighted by the artist, by transferring his own thoughts and states on corresponding representations of nature'. It was, however, in the eyes of some contemporaries, exaggerated and was frequently criticised as distortion of the beauty of nature in its pure form.
The artist's Mondnacht am Strand mit Fischen, circa 1816-18 (Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin) (see H. Börsch-Supan, K. W. Jähnig, Caspar David Friedrich, Munich, 1973, no. 240, (illus.)) may be viewed as a forerunner to our work, with its formal arrangement of subject matter, limiting the spectator's view of the middle ground. Iconographically, however, it is not a direct predecessor.
The work can also be compared with Mondaufgang am Meer of circa 1822 (Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Wagenersche Sammlung, no. 53) (Börsch-Supan, op. cit., cat. no. 299) (fig 1) in which figures, seated on a large monolith, watch boats approach against a light horizon. Whilst similar in subject matter and colour range, however, our picture evokes a deeper mysticism through vaguer brushwork and outline.
The final and mature development of these symbols appears in Die Lebensstufen, circa 1835 (Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, inv. no. 1217) (Börsch-Supan, op. cit., cat. no. 411 (illus.)), in which Friedrich and his family represent three Stages in Life, he himself facing the approaching ships and, hence, his forthcoming death.
Fischerboot zwischen Findlingen am Ostseestrand can be placed amongst a group of paintings of evening and night seascapes from the early 1830s. This group was produced during a resurgence of creative activity in the work of the artist after a period of relative stagnation caused by illness. His increased expectation of death led to a new and subtle symbolism, emphasized by a heightened sensitivity towards the representation of light and a greater understanding of colour. The approaching sailboat represents forthcoming death, while the figures observe it and contemplate the closeness of the end of life. They are positioned between two large pointed monoliths which pierce the sky and demonstrate strength of faith before the gradually brightening horizon, which opens to the afterworld. In contrast with the naturalistic colour theories of his contemporaries, such as Goethe, Friedrich exaggerated the properties of light and colour, true to his Romantic ideal.
His exceptional ability to 'use' nature for his iconography was described by C. A. Nilson in 1833: 'His paintings are hieroglyphs of nature, whose specific states are highlighted by the artist, by transferring his own thoughts and states on corresponding representations of nature'. It was, however, in the eyes of some contemporaries, exaggerated and was frequently criticised as distortion of the beauty of nature in its pure form.
The artist's Mondnacht am Strand mit Fischen, circa 1816-18 (Schloss Charlottenburg, Berlin) (see H. Börsch-Supan, K. W. Jähnig, Caspar David Friedrich, Munich, 1973, no. 240, (illus.)) may be viewed as a forerunner to our work, with its formal arrangement of subject matter, limiting the spectator's view of the middle ground. Iconographically, however, it is not a direct predecessor.
The work can also be compared with Mondaufgang am Meer of circa 1822 (Nationalgalerie, Berlin, Wagenersche Sammlung, no. 53) (Börsch-Supan, op. cit., cat. no. 299) (fig 1) in which figures, seated on a large monolith, watch boats approach against a light horizon. Whilst similar in subject matter and colour range, however, our picture evokes a deeper mysticism through vaguer brushwork and outline.
The final and mature development of these symbols appears in Die Lebensstufen, circa 1835 (Museum der Bildenden Künste, Leipzig, inv. no. 1217) (Börsch-Supan, op. cit., cat. no. 411 (illus.)), in which Friedrich and his family represent three Stages in Life, he himself facing the approaching ships and, hence, his forthcoming death.