The Oka Tree In The German Romantic Landscape

The oak tree in the German Romantic landscape

The landscape painting had never reached such a pinnacle since the German Romantic movement endowed it with profoundly spiritual and historicalmeanings.
In the nineteenth century, Germany did not have a national unity and a common identity. Art, and more specifically landscape painting, tried to point out the necessity of a national andcultural identity when politics were far from achieve that purpose. The spirit of national identity was strongly raised due to the reactionary politics of restoration that the anti-Napoleonic Wars caused.This new sense of “Germanness” led painters, writers and intellectuals to look back in their remote past to find symbols of unity. One of the symbols that were used to symbolize that national andcultural identity was the oak tree.
In 1774, Goethe included in The Sorrows of Young Werther some poems of Ossian by James Macpherson. In these poems the oak tree is related with the heroes ofpre-history, and this will be an important feature that will define the oak tree as a symbol of germanness. After the success of Werther, the poems of Ossian became also very popular and other German poetssuch as Kosegarten and Klopstock, expanded the original meaning of the oak tree.
According to Ossian, the lives of the ancient heroes used to be surrounded by the mighty presence of the oak tree inthe important moments of their lives. They used to die, fight and gather after victories around the oaks.
One of the natural features of oaks is that they are very robust and long-lived, thus theyhave a long history behind them. They have withstood the test of time, with all its weather difficulties: winds and storms. Scarred by time, oaks were seen as trees full of character and individuality.Since time immemorial Germany is full of oak trees, German poets identified them as a symbol of a national and social order; they became the aspirations to the German people.
Painters as Friedrich...