Die übermalten Schiffe in Caspar David Friedrichs "Mönch am Meer": neue Erkenntnisse nach der Restaurierung des Gemäldes in der Alten Nationalgalerie Berlin

Abstract

In January 2016, following extensive restoration work, the Alte Nationalgalerie in Berlin introduced Caspar David Friedrich's painting 'The Monk by the Sea' to the public. The infrared reflectogram had brought a further overpainted ship to light in the work, in which hitherto only two overpainted ships were known. The third vessel is a brig, which, along with the ship placed to its left, corresponds to the composition of the study 'Seashore with Sailing Ships' ascribed to the period around 1835/37. A comparison of the newly discovered ship with the lost pen-and-ink drawing of a brig dating from 1789 suggests that Friedrich used the mirror image of the brig in this drawing for 'The Monk by the Sea.'