This artist from Germany is little known in the United States, probably because there is only one of his works in the entire country. The painting depicts a man who, by his dress and demeanor seems to be a combination of a mountaineer and philosopher looking into a misty precipitous view. This is probably also a deeply spiritual painting. Friedrich loaded his works with an abundance of religious symbols, most of them ambiguous even to himself. However, in this painting it is clear that the mountains are reminders of God's power and the mists are the essence of the Almighty, which the wanderer knows he can see dimly but never fathom.