Sebastiano Vilella's graphic novel on Caspar David Friedrich

Sebastiano Vilella, a painter from Bari, has released a graphic novel titled "Friedrich. Lo sguardo infinito" (Oblomov Edizioni, 2019) that explores the life and work of Caspar David Friedrich. The book delves into Friedrich's tragic childhood, where his brother Christoffer drowned saving him, and his melancholic, mystical vision of nature. Vilella, who also teaches artistic and literary disciplines, uses a mix of wax crayons and watercolor tempera to evoke Friedrich's sublime landscapes. The narrative moves between Dresden, where physiologist and painter Carl Gustav Carus researched Friedrich, and the wild natural sites of the German Empire up to the Baltic Sea. Vilella reimagines famous Friedrich paintings such as "Cross in the Mountains," "Rocky Ravine in the Elbe Sandstone Mountains," "The Chalk Cliffs on Rügen," "Abbey in the Oakwood," and "Wanderer above the Sea of Fog." The book is 112 pages, priced at €19, and published by Oblomov Edizioni.