Talk:Cross in the Mountains

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A fact from Cross in the Mountains appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 4 May 2018 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:

Did you know... that the German painter Caspar David Friedrich's Cross in the Mountains (pictured) constituted "a revolution in landscape painting"?

A record of the entry may be seen at Wikipedia:Recent additions/2018/May. The nomination discussion and review may be seen at Template:Did you know nominations/Cross in the Mountains (Tetschen Altar).

Wikipedia

"For the first time in Christian art, an altarpiece showcases a landscape"

I wonder about this claim, especially given the vagueness of "showcases". Many earlier altarpieces have landscapes that are a good deal more extensive, though certainly treated as background - Martyrdom of Saint Sebastian (Piero del Pollaiolo) to name but one. That certainly "showcases" the landscape, imo. Or ones by Albrecht Altdorfer, which clearly relate to this and CDF's work in general. It's clear that landscape backgrounds were increasingly regarded as an important part of the appeal of altarpieces by many artists in the Renaissance, and altarpieces played a significant role in the development of landscape painting, though always as a subsidiary element. What is striking about the Tetschen Altar is how restricted the land part of the landscape is, and of course the absence of figures except for Jesus on the cross, which at least initially the viewer is likely to understand as a wayside crucifix rather than a depiction of the actual original, which from his comments was what CDF intended. Johnbod (talk) 14:40, 9 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]

I agree, it may be an over-statement of a more valid claim. As I can't actually source it (though I believe I got it from somewhere, with whatever wording), I am going to remove it. Outriggr (talk) 22:45, 9 April 2018 (UTC)[reply]