On a Sailing Ship
Caspar David Friedrich, 1818
Two backs at the prow, watching a city rise.
About this work
On a Sailing Ship (Auf dem Segler), painted around 1818–20 by Caspar David Friedrich, is in the State Hermitage Museum in St Petersburg. A couple, seen from behind, sit hand in hand in the bow of a sailing boat gliding over a calm sea toward the misty towers of a dreamlike city. Friedrich rarely put his own life into his paintings, but the couple is generally taken to be the painter himself, in dark blue clothes and an old-German beret, and Caroline Bommer, in a red dress with a white collar, whom he married on 21 January 1818. The picture was made after the couple's trip to his home on the Baltic near Greifswald, and the city's towers recall Dresden, Greifswald and Stralsund. From this time, women and couples begin to appear in Friedrich's pictures, not only solitary men. The voyage has been read as the Christian image of the ship of life, with the harbor as the goal of marriage. In 1820 Grand Duke Nicholas Pavlovich, the future Tsar Nicholas I, visited Friedrich's studio in Dresden and bought the painting for Peterhof. It was at Pavlovsk until 1963, when it moved to the Hermitage. The canvas measures 71 by 56 cm.
Sources: Wikipedia (German): Auf dem Segler · Wikipedia: Caspar David Friedrich
Print facts
- Native resolution
- 4,400 × 5,664 px
- Sharp at 150 ppi up to
- 29 × 37 in
- Sizes
- Small (16 × 20 in) · $100 · 275 ppi
Medium (19 × 24 in) · $150 · 232 ppi
Large (28 × 36 in) · $300 · 157 ppi - Price includes
- Frame and US shipping · 14–21 days · 30-day returns
FAQ
Where can I buy a framed print of On a Sailing Ship?
Here. On a Sailing Ship is available as a framed print in three sizes: Small (16 × 20 in) for $100, Medium (19 × 24 in) for $150 and Large (28 × 36 in) for $300. Prices include the frame and US shipping; delivery takes 14–21 days, with 30-day returns.
What size works best for On a Sailing Ship?
The file is 4,400 × 5,664 px, so every size is sharp: even Large (28 × 36 in) prints at 157 ppi. Choose Large (28 × 36 in) for a large wall; Small (16 × 20 in) suits a narrower space.
Is it legal to print On a Sailing Ship?
Yes. On a Sailing Ship is in the public domain: its copyright, if it ever had one, expired long ago. In the United States a faithful photograph of a public-domain painting does not create a new copyright (Bridgeman v. Corel, 1999), so the image can be printed and sold freely.
