Ruins of a Castle
Carl Blechen (German, 1798-1840)
1825/27
- Medium
- Lithograph with olive-green tint stone, heightened with white gouache, on ivory wove paper
- Classification
- Dimensions
- Image: 15.4 × 21.8 cm (6 1/8 × 8 5/8 in.); Sheet: 25.7 × 35 cm (10 1/8 × 13 13/16 in.)
- Culture
- Germany
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago, Prints and Drawings
- Credit line
- Gift of Dorothy Braude Edinburg to the Harry B. and Bessie K. Braude Memorial Collection
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Kids profiles and older: it shows nature, places, still life or a children's book. How works are placed
View at the Art Institute of Chicago
About this work
A former banker who trained at the Berlin Arts Academy, Carl Blechen also used his flair for the dramatic as a set designer for theatrical productions. Ruins of a Castle is among the three etchings and 14 lithographs produced by the artist featuring romantic subjects such as ruins, hermits, and pilgrims in darkly evocative landscapes. These works demonstrate the continuing influence on Blechen of Caspar David Friedrich, who staged the natural world as a form of religious allegory.
Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0
