Proper

Abstract

Abstract The German romantic landscape has been interpreted as the implementation of pantheism, the representation of German nationalism, or the spirit of romanticism that pursued the unknown world or sublime. However, this paper examines the influence of Dutch seventeenth-century landscape in German romantic landscape. Particularly, Caspar David Friedrich’s landscape reflects the Calvinistic view on nature and the attitude of Protestant meditation depicted in Dutch emblem books and contemporary poetry. Friedrich's use of meditating figures, staffage figures and vanitas motifs all demonstrate the influence of Dutch seventeenth-century landscape painting.