Pilgrim in a Rocky Valley
by CARUS, Karl Gustav, Oil on canvas, 28 x 22 cm
In this painting Carus adopted the view of a figure seen from behind which Friedrich had introduced; here he is hastening ahead of the viewer into the picture and anticipating his view.
In a Europe becoming remorselessly urban and industrial, the cloaked wanderer trudging away into high mountains with his pilgrim’s staff, though painted in 1820, strikes a suitably symbolic farewell to the Romantic religion of nature.