The Representation of Architectural Space for Caspar David Friedrich: The Case Study of Eldena Abbey

The spatiality of Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings has always been a topic of investigation within the field of Romantic art history. This research has been conducted with the objective of gaining insight into the ideas and reasoning of the Greifswald painter. The influence of new insights into Ca...

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Main Author: Antonio Esposito
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2025-01-01
Series:Arts
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Online Access:https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/14/1/7
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author Antonio Esposito
author_facet Antonio Esposito
author_sort Antonio Esposito
collection DOAJ
description The spatiality of Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings has always been a topic of investigation within the field of Romantic art history. This research has been conducted with the objective of gaining insight into the ideas and reasoning of the Greifswald painter. The influence of new insights into Caspar David Friedrich’s spatiality construction has led the scholarship to trigger different ways of interpreting his paintings and artworks. The aim of the proposed study is to analyse the architectural spatiality as defined by Friedrich in his paintings that have Eldena Abbey as their main architectural reference, using a methodology that uses 3D digital modelling as its main tool, in order to understand if the painter used any spatial compositional patterns in these paintings. Another objective of this study is to verify the potential of 3D modelling as an analytical tool for the architectural spatiality of Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings. An analysis of the spatiality of the church designed by Frederich has been carried out through the reconstruction of the central nave of the religious space, as an example of the compositional patterns that will eventually be detected in his representation of Eldena Abbey. In this research, 3D modelling is a fundamental analytical tool used for reconstructing the spatiality of the church as represented by Friedrich in three artworks that have Eldena as their main reference for the architectural motif. This research uses the projection of the apparent contour to reconstruct the position and size of the depicted architectural elements within different reconstruction scenarios. The possibility of using a compositional benchmark as the ratio between the width of the column and the following intercolumnar distance allows using the identification of compositional patterns within the analysed artworks in order to understand how Friedrich conceived architectural space within them.
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spelling doaj-art-ef89a455d49140909b885968bc1d7da02025-08-20T02:44:43ZengMDPI AGArts2076-07522025-01-01141710.3390/arts14010007The Representation of Architectural Space for Caspar David Friedrich: The Case Study of Eldena AbbeyAntonio Esposito0DFG—Graduate Training School “Modell Romantik”, Friedrich-Schiller-University Jena, Fürstengraben 1, 07743 Jena, GermanyThe spatiality of Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings has always been a topic of investigation within the field of Romantic art history. This research has been conducted with the objective of gaining insight into the ideas and reasoning of the Greifswald painter. The influence of new insights into Caspar David Friedrich’s spatiality construction has led the scholarship to trigger different ways of interpreting his paintings and artworks. The aim of the proposed study is to analyse the architectural spatiality as defined by Friedrich in his paintings that have Eldena Abbey as their main architectural reference, using a methodology that uses 3D digital modelling as its main tool, in order to understand if the painter used any spatial compositional patterns in these paintings. Another objective of this study is to verify the potential of 3D modelling as an analytical tool for the architectural spatiality of Caspar David Friedrich’s paintings. An analysis of the spatiality of the church designed by Frederich has been carried out through the reconstruction of the central nave of the religious space, as an example of the compositional patterns that will eventually be detected in his representation of Eldena Abbey. In this research, 3D modelling is a fundamental analytical tool used for reconstructing the spatiality of the church as represented by Friedrich in three artworks that have Eldena as their main reference for the architectural motif. This research uses the projection of the apparent contour to reconstruct the position and size of the depicted architectural elements within different reconstruction scenarios. The possibility of using a compositional benchmark as the ratio between the width of the column and the following intercolumnar distance allows using the identification of compositional patterns within the analysed artworks in order to understand how Friedrich conceived architectural space within them.https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/14/1/73D reconstructionCaspar David Friedrichdigital art historyarchitectural spatialityEldena Abbey<i>Abbey in the Oakwood</i>
spellingShingle Antonio Esposito
The Representation of Architectural Space for Caspar David Friedrich: The Case Study of Eldena Abbey
Arts
3D reconstruction
Caspar David Friedrich
digital art history
architectural spatiality
Eldena Abbey
<i>Abbey in the Oakwood</i>
title The Representation of Architectural Space for Caspar David Friedrich: The Case Study of Eldena Abbey
title_full The Representation of Architectural Space for Caspar David Friedrich: The Case Study of Eldena Abbey
title_fullStr The Representation of Architectural Space for Caspar David Friedrich: The Case Study of Eldena Abbey
title_full_unstemmed The Representation of Architectural Space for Caspar David Friedrich: The Case Study of Eldena Abbey
title_short The Representation of Architectural Space for Caspar David Friedrich: The Case Study of Eldena Abbey
title_sort representation of architectural space for caspar david friedrich the case study of eldena abbey
topic 3D reconstruction
Caspar David Friedrich
digital art history
architectural spatiality
Eldena Abbey
<i>Abbey in the Oakwood</i>
url https://www.mdpi.com/2076-0752/14/1/7
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