Die Brandstatte (The Fire)
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View on museum website →Medium
Etching; second state
Dimensions
Sheet: 8 in. × 11 1/4 in. (20.3 × 28.5 cm) Plate: 3 5/8 × 5 3/8 in. (9.2 × 13.7 cm) Image: 3 5/16 × 4 7/8 in. (8.4 × 12.4 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1927
Accession Number
27.36.1
Art Historical Context
Caspar David Friedrich, a figure in German Romanticism, crafted *Die Brandstatte ( Fire)* in 1802 as an early etching, showcasing his emerging mastery of printmaking before his fame in oil landscapes. At just 28, Friedrich captured the sublime and melancholic essence of nature's forces, themes central to Romanticism's emphasis on emotion, ruin, and the transient beauty of the world. This intimate work, titled after a fire-ravaged site, invites viewers to ponder destruction and renewal amid vast, moody atmospheres. Rendered in the second state of the etching—a revision where the artist refined...
About the Artist
Caspar David Friedrich · 1774–1840
Leading artist of the German Romantic movement. He was particularly known for his symbolic and atmospheric treatment of landscape.