Artist: Carl Julius von Leypold (1806–1874)
Title: Wanderer in the Storm
Date: 1835
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: height: 42.5 cm (16.7 in); width: 56.5 cm (22.2 in)
Collection: Metropolitan Museum of Art
What I love about this painting:
This painting completely describes typical January weather in the cold, dark, and stormy Pacific Northwest—wind and rain and rain and wind. Winter is in full swing, a few degrees warmer this week than last, but dark, cold, and wet. Hopefully, we will avoid having more snow and ice, but it’s only January. Anything can be lurking around the corner.
I love the dark and moody sky that von Leypold paints for us. It has movement, a sense of life, of wind and rain gathering momentum, a small pause while it builds toward a tantrum of the wintery kind. It feels heavy and oppressive.
One can almost hear the water lapping at the shore. Beyond the muddy lane, the trees are like me, old but strong, holding their barren branches defiant before the storm. They seem to shout, “We will bend but never break!” and by bending with the winds, those trees will survive to see yet another blossoming of spring.
The ancient stone wall stands firm, still doing its duty despite being long neglected and left to ruin. It refuses to abandon its purpose, although it no longer remembers what that might be.
The man trudges purposefully, despite the wind that whips at his long coat. Does he feel the cold, or is he walking quickly enough that he is warm? And where is he going? Who is he so intent upon seeing that he would brave the storm on foot?
More importantly, does danger lurk around the corner? Will he be safe?
There is a story in this painting.
About the Artist, via Wikipedia:
Carl Julius von Leypold (1806–1874) was a German Romantic landscape painter known for his painting, “Wanderer in the Storm.”
Von Leypold studied landscape painting with Johan Christian Dahl at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts between 1820 and 1829. From 1826 onwards, Caspar David Friedrich influenced his choice of subjects and painting style. His landscapes are characterized by “a painterly, but at the same time sharp-brushed style, in which high painting culture is combined with Biedermeier objectivity.”
On March 5, 1857, he became an honorary member of the Dresden Art Academy. [1]
Credits and Attributions:
Image: Wanderer in the Storm by Carl Julius von Leypold PD|100. Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Karl Julius von Leypold – Wanderer im Sturm.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Karl_Julius_von_Leypold_-_Wanderer_im_Sturm.jpg&oldid=675091985 (accessed January 5, 2023).
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Carl Julius von Leypold,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Carl_Julius_von_Leypold&oldid=1095364695 (accessed January 5, 2023).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 