Freedom and captivity – first painting by German Romantic artist Carl Gustav Carus to enter a UK public collection

This article was first published by The National Gallery.

The National Gallery has acquired A View of the Sky from a Prison Window (1823) by Carl Gustav Carus (1789–1869) – the first painting by the 19th-century German Romantic painter to enter a UK public collection.

The picture, on display in Room 38, is one of the new Bicentenary acquisitions announced to coincide with the opening of CC Land: The Wonder of Art, the biggest ever rehang of the National Gallery’s collection, and of the newly transformed Sainsbury Wing on 10 May 2025.

Bought for £396,660, thanks to a generous legacy from Mrs Martha Doris Bailey and Mr Richard Hillman Bailey, and with the support of Mr and Mrs Booth-Clibborn and others, the acquisition, which powerfully evokes ideas of freedom and captivity, honours the close-on three decades of curatorial activity at the National Gallery of Christopher Riopelle, the Neil Westreich Curator of Post 1800 Paintings.