# Night Piece from the Closing Scene of 'René' by Chateaubriand

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/catel-franz-ludwig-r46ef6a453c2862/night-piece-from-the-closing-scene-of-ren-by-chateaubriand-r2a482cb478c55d>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [CATEL, Franz Ludwig](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/catel-franz-ludwig-r46ef6a453c2862>)
- Date: 1801-1850
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 63 x 74 cm

## Commentary

Night Piece from the Closing Scene of &#39;René&#39; by Chateaubriand c. 1820 Oil on canvas, 63 x 74 cm Thorvaldsens Museum, Copenhagen Chateaubriand wrote René, a fictional self-portrait in 1802 in London. In the striking picture by Catel, the shipwrecked wanderer René perches on a rock beneath a Gothic castle against whose walls waves surge and crash. World-weary and melancholy, René voyages in time and space just as the artist does in imagination, but finds no comfort and longs for death.

## Related artworks

- [Crown Prince Ludwig in the Spanish Wine Tavern in Rome](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/catel-franz-ludwig-r46ef6a453c2862/crown-prince-ludwig-in-the-spanish-wine-tavern-in-rome-r1690a1857539fa>)
- [Garden of the Villa Doria Pamphili in Rome](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/catel-franz-ludwig-r46ef6a453c2862/garden-of-the-villa-doria-pamphili-in-rome-r0e5400a73bbe8c>)
- [View of Ariccia with the Sea in the Background](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/catel-franz-ludwig-r46ef6a453c2862/view-of-ariccia-with-the-sea-in-the-background-r9808290c0091f8>)

## Attribution

[Web Gallery of Art](<https://beta.wga.hu/pages/about>)