Boy Sleeping on a Grave (1803) by Caspar David Friedrich
Boy Sleeping on a Grave (German: Knabe auf einem Grab schlafend[1]
) is a c. 1803 print designed by the German Romantic painter Caspar David Friedrich, and printed on paper as a woodcut, the block cut by his brother Christian Friedrich, who was a carpenter and furniture maker.[2]
It is one of four woodcuts designed by Friedrich and cut by his brother around 1803.[2] The wood blocks for three of the prints - Boy sleeping on a grave, Woman with the Spider's Web and Woman with a Raven at an Abyss - are held by the Hamburger Kunsthalle.[2] It was suggested by the German art historian Helmut Börsch-Supan [de] that they were made as illustrations for a book - perhaps a volume of Friedrich's poetry.[2] The three prints were exhibited in Dresden in March 1804.[2] These three illustrations are based on drawings by Friedrich in a sketchbook that he used from September 1800 to March 1802, now known as the Mannheim Sketchbook. Although the pages are now separated, eleven are held by the Kunsthalle Mannheim, but a pen and ink drawing of a sleeping boy (German: Schlafender Knabe) dated to 1802 is held by the Kunsthalle Bremen.[2]
The fourth woodcut is a profile self-portrait of Friedrich, perhaps intended as a frontispiece for the same volume of poetry.[2]
![Sleeping Boy (Schlafender Knabe), c.1802, Kunsthalle Bremen[5]](File:Caspar_David_Friedrich_-_Schlafender_Knabe_(1802).jpg)
![The Woman with the Spider's Web, 1803, Metropolitan Museum of Art[6]](File:Seated_Woman_with_a_Spider%27s_Web_(Die_Frau_mit_dem_Spinnennnetz_zwischen_kahlen_Baumen)_MET_DP872947.jpg)
![Woman with a Raven at an Abyss, 1803, Metropolitan Museum of Art[7]](File:Woman_with_a_Raven_(Die_Frau_mit_dem_Raben_am_Abgrund)_MET_DP872948.jpg)
![Self-portrait of Caspar David Friedrich, c.1802, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden[8]](File:CasparDavidFriedrich1803Basel.jpg)
