German painter and educator (born 1774)

Caspar David Friedrich

Caspar David Friedrich was a German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti-classical work, conveys a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings often set contemplative human figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. Art historian Christopher John Murray described their presence, in diminished perspective, amid expansive landscapes, as reducing the figures to a scale that directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".

Born

1774

September 5

Died

1840

Era

1770s

Country

—

About

Caspar, in brief

Caspar David Friedrich was a German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation, whose often symbolic, and anti-classical work, conveys a subjective, emotional response to the natural world. Friedrich's paintings often set contemplative human figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. Art historian Christopher John Murray described their presence, in diminished perspective, amid expansive landscapes, as reducing the figures to a scale that directs "the viewer's gaze towards their metaphysical dimension".

Source: Wikipedia · CC BY-SA 4.0

Life timeline

Key dates

  1. 1774 Born
  2. 1840 Died

Also on September 5

What else happened on this day, through history

See all of September 5 →

Same-day contemporaries

Also born on September 5

Bill Mazeroski 1936– American baseball player and coach (died 2026) Dave Dryden 1941– Canadian ice hockey player and coach (died 2022) Fan Zhongyan 989– Chinese chancellor (died 1052) Gareth Evans 1944– Australian lawyer and politician, 33rd Australian Minister of Foreign Affairs Giacomo Meyerbeer 1791–1864 German composer and educator (born 1791) Henry Maitland Wilson 1881–1964 English field marshal (born 1881) Jane Sixsmith 1967– English field hockey player Morris Carnovsky 1897– American actor (died 1992) Otto Bauer 1881–1938 Austrian philosopher and politician, Austrian Minister of Foreign Affairs (born 1881)

See everything on September 5 →

Same-year contemporaries

Also born in 1774

Johnny Appleseed 1774–1845 American gardener and missionary (born 1774) Meriwether Lewis 1774–1809 American soldier, explorer, and politician (died 1809) Robert Southey 1774–1843 English poet and author (died 1843)

Keep going

More to explore

Caspar's birthday September 5 Caspar's zodiac Virgo Browse People A–Z