Caspar David Friedrich - Böhmische Landschaft mit dem Milleschauer - 1808

 

Together with the "Cross in the Mountains," this Bohemian mountain landscape was acquired from Schloss Tetschen for the Gemäldegalerie in 1921. An equally sized counterpart depicting the same region in the evening atmosphere went to Stuttgart at that time. Unusually, the earthly existence of human life takes center stage in the artist's focus here, more pronounced than in Friedrich's other works. The depicted landscape experiences are from the Bohemian Central Mountains south of Teplitz. Our gaze moves to the right towards Milleschauer, and in a symmetrical composition, the equally expansive profile of another mountain, Kletschen, is opposed to it on the left. From the blue-gray distance of this mountain silhouette, our eyes return to the lush green meadow in the foreground, perhaps wandering down the path to the valley, toward the partially hidden house with smoke rising from the chimney, revealing the presence of human life. Alternatively, we mentally ascend the path to the hills on the right, with the increasingly light yellow-green of their heights, gaining a better overview of the landscape. The ease with which such visual exploration carries us through the image from the presented path in the foreground seems to correspond to a state of the soul, perfectly aligning with the character of the natural representation. In its wonderful delicacy and cheerful serenity, the painting undoubtedly ranks among the most beautiful landscape depictions in German painting.

Source: 250 Jahre Caspar David Friedrich