# Winter Landscape with Church

[View the canonical artwork record](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/winter-landscape-with-church-rc690be31fdb159>)

## Artwork

- Artist: [FRIEDRICH, Caspar David](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403>)
- Date: 1801-1850
- Technique: Oil on canvas, 33 x 45 cm

## Commentary

In a letter of 22 June 1811, written by Friederike Volkmann in Dresden to the psychologist Dr Christian August Heinroth in Leipzig, this painting is described as the pendant to the Winter Landscape now in Schwerin. The Schwerin painting is characterized by the sombreness of an expanse of snow stretching away into the infinite distance, which modern interpreters see as a symbol of death, a nihilistic sign of doom. The pendant in Dortmund introduces, for the first time in Friedrich&#39;s oeuvre, a Gothic church, seen as a monumental vision emerging out of the mist like a phantasmagoria and rising against the gloomy background of a winter sky. Nearer the viewer, a man is leaning back against a boulder and gazing up the crucifix in front of a cluster of young fir trees. He has flung his crutches demonstratively far away from him into the snow. This combination of motifs has been interpreted as a reference to the security of the Christian in his faith. &lt;P&gt; &lt;TABLE ALIGN=LEFT CELLPADDING=5 BORDER=1 WIDTH=320 BGCOLOR=&#34;\#99CCCC&#34;&gt; &lt;TR VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt;&lt;TD&gt;&lt;IMG SRC=&#34;/support/gif/listen.gif&#34; BORDER=0 VALIGN=MIDDLE&gt; Suggested listening \(streaming mp3, 11 minutes\):&lt;BR&gt;&lt;A HREF=&#34;\#&#34; onClick=&#34;w=window.open \(&#39;/music1/18\_cent/vivaldi\_rv297\_winter.html&#39;, &#39;newWin&#39;, &#39;scrollbars=yes,status=no,dependent=yes,screenX=0,screenY=0,width=350,height=350&#39;\);w.opener=this;w.focus\(\);return true&#34;&gt;&lt;B&gt;Vivaldi: Concerto in F minor RV 297 op. 8 No. 4 \(Winter\)&lt;/B&gt;&lt;/A&gt; &lt;/TD&gt;&lt;/TR&gt;&lt;/TABLE&gt;

## Related artworks

- [Adolf Gottlieb Friedrich, Reading](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/adolf-gottlieb-friedrich-reading-r46c77e50bf101c>)
- [Boats in the Harbour at Evening](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/boats-in-the-harbour-at-evening-r970bf240d39207>)
- [Bohemian Landscape with Mount Milleschauer](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/bohemian-landscape-with-mount-milleschauer-r504efc7e53afa6>)
- [Chalk Cliffs at Rügen](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/chalk-cliffs-at-rgen-r0925f8495f6526>)
- [Chalk Cliffs on Rügen](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/chalk-cliffs-on-rgen-r8ca9933591e4cf>)
- [Cross in the Mountains](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/cross-in-the-mountains-r66e155e6044f2c>)
- [Cross in the Mountains \(Tetschen Altar\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/cross-in-the-mountains-tetschen-altar-r8d1ca6b57a851e>)
- [Cross in the Mountains \(Tetschen Altar\)](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/cross-in-the-mountains-tetschen-altar-r90b686871a5e26>)
- [Dolmen in the Snow](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/dolmen-in-the-snow-r5a08265a27bd23>)
- [Drifting Clouds](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/drifting-clouds-r3bc5e7e353dadc>)
- [Easter Morning](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/easter-morning-r741b6859899b3c>)
- [Evening Landscape with Two Men](<https://beta.wga.hu/artists/friedrich-caspar-david-r902592c990c403/evening-landscape-with-two-men-r00894f8486338c>)

## Attribution

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