Inspirational art: Caspar David Friedrich
Inspirational art can really set the tone for a book or adventure. When I went looking for good fantasy art on Wikimedia Commons, the art of Caspar David Friedrich really stood out. His Wanderer in the Sea of Fog was so inspirational I used it as the first image in the Gods & Monsters rulebook: an adventurer, about to set off into the unknown, surveying the visible world before descending into the mist.
This is not the summit of his journey. It is only the beginning.
Other paintings I’ve used for various Gods & Monsters books are his Juno Temple, Cemetery Entrance, Monastery Ruins, Chalk Cliffs on Rügen, and, I think, the Abbey in the Oakwood. He has many more.
Two that really inspire me, though, are his Cross beside the Baltic and Man and woman contemplating the moon.
I strongly suspect that the cross partly inspired the cross in the snow in Song of Tranquility from Fight On! #7.
And doesn’t that tree look like it’s about to attack our contemplative moon-watchers?
- Caspar David Friedrich at Wikipedia
- “Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840) was a 19th-century German Romantic landscape painter, generally considered the most important German artist of his generation. He is best known for his mid-period allegorical landscapes which typically feature contemplative figures silhouetted against night skies, morning mists, barren trees or Gothic ruins. ”
- Caspar David Friedrich at Wikimedia Commons
- Collection of portraits and paintings by German Romanticist Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840).
- Fight On! 7 is out (and I’m in)
- Fight On! issue 7 is out; look for a Gods and Monsters adventure inside.
- Gods & Monsters Rules
- All rules on creating characters and playing the game. This is what you’ll be using most as both player and adventure guide.
- Wikimedia Commons
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“A database of freely usable media files to which anyone can contribute.”
More Inspirational fantasy art
- Ethereal engravings of William Miller
- Scottish engraver William Miller created engravings of other-worldly beauty from other people’s art.
- The Pre-Raphaelite fantasies of John William Waterhouse
- John William Waterhouse was one of the best of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and his paintings of Tennyson and Shakespeare provide great inspiration for fantasy worlds.
- The Biblical and other engravings of Gustave Doré
- Gustave Doré is probably best known for his Bible engravings, especially an angry Moses lifting high the ten commandments to destroy them.
More paintings
- The Pre-Raphaelite fantasies of John William Waterhouse
- John William Waterhouse was one of the best of the Pre-Raphaelite movement, and his paintings of Tennyson and Shakespeare provide great inspiration for fantasy worlds.