Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840), born in Greifswald near the Baltic Sea as the sixth son of a soap merchant, was a German painter and draughtsman of the Romantic era. In 1787 he broke through the ice while skating and was saved by his brother, who drowned in the course of rescuing him. This remained a lifelong trauma. In 1794-1798 Friedrich studied at the Academy of Copenhagen. In 1798 he moved to Dresden, where he stayed for the rest of his life, from 1824 working as professor at the Academy of Dresden. In 1835 he became partly paralyzed due to a stroke. After his death in 1840 he was soon forgotten, but rediscovered at the beginning of the 20th century. The renowned German poets Goethe and Novalis were among his friends.