Explore the Georg Friedrich Kersting of this artwork.
Kersting belonged to the Dresden circle of Friedrich's friends, and like him came from Mecklenburg and had studied from the same teachers in the Copenhagen academy from 1805 to 1808, until settling in Dresden. Kersting accompanied Friedrich in the summer of 1810 on a hike in the Sudeten mountains, and is probably the figure depicted in several of Friedrich's drawings and watercolors from that time. In 1818 Kersting became the head of the painting department of the porcelain factory in Meissen, but still remained in contact with Friedrich for a time.
Kersting preferred painting portraits with an interior setting, and portrayed people familiar to him in a manner that held personal meanings. However, none of his other paintings were as spare as this portrait of his famous friend Friedrich. It differs enormously from the "chaotic study" of the painter Gerhard von Kügelgen, which was stuffed with innumerable plaster casts and painting equipment.
Georg Friedrich Kersting Gerhard von Kügelgen