Karl Friedrich Lessing was a 19th century German painter who specialized in landscape and history painting.

In his landscapes, Lessing was influenced by the Romantic landscapes of Caspar David Friedrich, and Lessing himself became an influential teacher and painter, one of the primary figures in the Dusseldorf school of landscape painting.

Lessing reveled in the weathered textures of stone castles and keeps, rocky outcroppings and forbidding hills. I particularly enjoy the almost theatrical way he plays with light, highlighting particular areas of his compositions with strong contrasts in value.

Unfortunately, sources for his work are a bit scattered and thin, but I’ve gathered what I can below.