# Footbridge with Cross before Trees at a River

- By: Caspar David Friedrich (German, 1774–1840)
- Date: c.1803
- Medium: etching
- Classification: Print
- Dimensions: Sheet: 19.9 x 28 cm (7 13/16 x 11 in.); Image: 8.8 x 14 cm (3 7/16 x 5 1/2 in.); Platemark: 9.2 x 15.2 cm (3 5/8 x 6 in.)
- Culture: Germany, 19th century
- Credit line: Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland
- Museum: [Cleveland Museum of Art](https://clevelandart.org/art/2006.133)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://openaccess-cdn.clevelandart.org/2006.133/2006.133_web.jpg
- Who can see it: Little Ones profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

Landscape was Caspar David Friedrich’s preferred subject, and for him spending time outdoors was a religious and transcendent experience. Here, the artist presented the terrain of Northern Germany as expansive and emphasized the smallness of man next to God’s creation. The fine, dense etched lines used to depict the landscape are juxtaposed with the broad strokes that make up the sky and horizon. Friedrich experimented with printmaking for only five years, and this print is one of just a few existing impressions.