Caspar David FriedrichGerman, 1774–1840Hünengrab im Schnee
May one see it?
Unknown: the museum keeps its counsel
Albertinum
Dresden, Germany
The owner is known. Whether it is on view today, the museum does not say, and we were not trained to guess.
- In this state since
- Sep 27, 2026
- Source
- The museum's own collection data
Particulars
What it shows
Sources
- Albertinum: the museum's own open data · fetched 3 days ago
- Image: Albertinum — In Copyright
Meanwhile, in the life of Caspar David Friedrich
The whole life1805
Wins Goethe’s Weimar competition
With two sepia drawings, “Procession at Dawn” and “Fisher-Folk by the Sea”, Friedrich wins the competition organised by Goethe in Weimar. The poet, whose reputation was suffering from the poor quality of the entries, responds enthusiastically to the artist’s resourcefulness, and the success establishes Friedrich’s reputation.
1807
The turn to oil painting
Until 1807 Friedrich works exclusively in drawing, chiefly in pencil or sepia, and then turns to oil painting as well.
1808
Paints “Cross in the Mountains” (the Tetschen Altar)
At the age of 34 Friedrich completes the first of his major paintings: an altarpiece panel showing a cross in profile, alone at the top of a mountain among pine trees. It is said to have been commissioned for a family chapel in Tetschen, Bohemia, and is one of the few commissions the artist ever received.
1808–1809
The quarrel with Ramdohr: can a landscape stand on an altar?
The altarpiece is generally coldly received but becomes Friedrich’s first painting to win wide publicity: friends defend it publicly, while the critic Basilius von Ramdohr publishes a long article challenging the use of landscape in a religious context. In 1809 Friedrich answers with a programme comparing the rays of the evening sun to the light of the Holy Father — the only time he recorded a detailed interpretation of his own work.
