The Cross in the Mountains, 1808 Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840)

We create our paintings with museum quality and covering the highest academic standards. Once we get your order, it will be entirely hand-painted with oil on canvas. All the materials we use are the highest level, being totally artist graded painting materials and linen canvas.

We will add 1.6" (4 cm) additional blank canvas all over the painting for stretching.

High quality and detailing in every inch are time consuming. The reproduction of Caspar David Friedrich also needs time to dry in order to be completely ready for shipping, as this is crucial to not be damaged during transportation.
Based on the size, level of detail and complexity we need 8-9 weeks to complete the process.

In case the delivery date needs to be extended in time, or we are overloaded with requests, there will be an email sent to you sharing the new timelines of production and delivery.

TOPofART wants to remind you to keep patient, in order to get you the highest quality, being our mission to fulfill your expectations.

We not stretch and frame our oil paintings due to several reasons:
Painting reproduction is a high quality expensive product, which we cannot risk to damage by sending it being stretched.
Also, there are postal restrictions, regarding the size of the shipment.
Additionally, due to the dimensions of the stretched canvas, the shipment price may exceed the price of the product itself.

You can stretch and frame your painting in your local frame-shop.

Once the painting The Cross in the Mountains is ready and dry, it will be shipped to your delivery address. The canvas will be rolled-up in a secure postal tube.

We offer free shipping as well as paid express transportation services.

After adding your artwork to the shopping cart, you will be able to check the delivery price using the Estimate Shipping and Tax tool.

The paintings we create are only of museum quality. Our academy graduated artists will never allow a compromise in the quality and detail of the ordered painting. TOPofART do not work, and will never allow ourselves to work with low quality studios from the Far East. We are based in Europe, and quality is our highest priority.

The Cross in the Mountains
This stunning altarpiece stirred up a great controversy when Friedrich exhibited it in 1808. The idea of a devotional landscape painting was anathema to many of his contemporaries, and arguments between supporters and opponents of the painting raged in the newspapers for over two years. Friedrich's most vehement critic, Freiherr von Ramdohr, thought it a "veritable presumption, if landscape painting were to sneak into the church and creep on to the altar".
When Friedrich designed the Cross in the Mountains as an altarpiece, he was breaking one of art's most sacred conventions. Traditionally, a religious story or aUegory had been told exclusively through the human drama. The figures were immediately recognizable by their attributes - from a simple halo to a palm branch - and the biblical narrative was made explicit through rhetorical gesture and expression. Even in Friedrich's time, it was felt that the imagery of landscape painting was too unfamiliar and obscure for devotional purposes.