Ruins of a Castle

Ruins of a Castle — Carl Blechen. 1825/27.

Medium: Lithograph with olive-green tint stone, heightened with white gouache, on ivory wove paper. Dimensions: Image: 15.4 × 21.8 cm (6 1/8 × 8 5/8 in.); Sheet: 25.7 × 35 cm (10 1/8 × 13 13/16 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

A former banker who trained at the Berlin Arts Academy, Carl Blechen also used his flair for the dramatic as a set designer for theatrical productions. Ruins of a Castle is among the three etchings and 14 lithographs produced by the artist featuring romantic subjects such as ruins, hermits, and pilgrims in darkly evocative landscapes. These works demonstrate the continuing influence on Blechen of Caspar David Friedrich, who staged the natural world as a form of religious allegory.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.