Led by the young couple, followed by their parents and wedding guests, the wedding party emerges from the dark woods, out into the bright light of a wonderful spring day. High up above, the picturesque chapel where the couple exchanged their marriage vows can just be seen through the trees. A group of happy children runs ahead, bearing the bridal wreath on a pole. Everything here tells of a future full of hope, joy, and optimism. Every detail plays its part in the composition’s highly symbolic narrative – as curator Holger Birkholz explains taking the path as an example:
“This picture invites you to take a stroll through the scene. In Romanticism, walking or hiking played a crucial role. At that time, you couldn’t simply travel somewhere quickly by train – and driving from A to B by car was just a pipe dream. Instead, walking was important, allowing you to directly experience the natural world as you walked – and out in the countryside, you had time to look around, and discover the richness of nature. So, here too, the path is not just a country trail – but, at the same time, to be explored and experienced, in its symbolic meaning, as a path through life.”
In nineteenth-century Germany, Dresden artist Ludwig Richter was one of the most popular painters. Unimpressed by the modern art movements in his day, he steadfastly kept to his world of idyllic subjects rendered in the traditional fine painting style. When he created this masterfully composed, dream-like work, the revolutions which swept Germany and Europe in 1848 were just a year away. This painting is like a vision of a golden age, an ideal lost in the past, yet one which awakens a longing for a life in freedom and in harmony with nature.
- Material & Technique
- Oil on canvas
- Museum
- Galerie Neue Meister
- Dating
- 1847
- Inventory number
- Gal.-Nr. 2230