Carl david friedrich biography

1774

Caspar David Friedrich is born in Greifswald on 5 September as the sixth of ten children to his parents Adolf Gottlieb Friedrich, a soap boiler and candle-maker, and his wife Sophie Dorothea.

His mother dies in 1781, when Friedrich is only 7 years old.

1787

Friedrich’s brother Johann Christoffer drowns when trying to rescue Caspar David, who had himself fallen through the ice when skating on a frozen moat.

Carl david friedrich biography

This childhood trauma has a lasting impact on the artist’s life.

1788 – 1798

Friedrich receives drawing lessons from Johann Gottfried Quistorp, University Master Builder and drawing instructor at the University of Greifswald.

In 1794, Quistorp also finds him a study place at the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts in Copenhagen, which is known as the most progressive academy in Europe at that time. Until 1796, Friedrich first attends freehand drawing classes and then plaster and sculpture lessons.

His instructors are some