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We have already seen many examples of how Friedrich, at times, took his inspiration from details such as individual figures in the Dresden collection’s Old Master paintings. But he went considerably further in his Dolmen in Autumn – as is evident when we compare it with Fishermen at the Lake, further to the right, by the seventeenth-century Dutch artist Nicolas Berchem.

We immediately notice several parallels: first of all, both works are dominated by a large block of stone, a large rock in the countryside in Berchem’s painting and the dolmen in Friedrich’s picture. And both artists intensify the impact of these stone blocks through clouds floating over them, rather like an echo; Friedrich has a dark rain cloud centrally over the megalithic tomb, while Berchem’s cloud, light and friendly, is slightly offset to the right. The two paintings also have very similar windswept bushes to the left of the blocks of stone. And last but not least, both works alternate highlighted and dark strips in the foreground – a technique to heighten the impression of spatial depth.

The many similarities between the two paintings can hardly be a coincidence. Clearly, the overall composition of Friedrich’s Dolmen in Autumn was inspired by Bercham’s picture.