View of the Monastery of Santa Scolastica near Subiaco

Unlike Romantic painters, Carl Blechen’s perception of nature does not seem exaggerated or glorifying. It is true that here his scenery is monumental, immense, but this is mainly due to the unusual perspective, which gives the cliff a much greater weight in the composition than the monastery on top of it. The human figures appear tiny, but not lost. The precise capture of the parts illuminated by a soft light and those in shadow also testifies to the artist’s interest in faithful reproduction of nature. The picture, however, was not painted en plein air, but in the studio.