The Romantic landscape painting of Dresden is not uniform either stylistically, thematically, or in its execution. In his works, Carus, who was largely selftaught, took his orientation from the various painters of his surroundings. The cross sunken in the snow in a forest clearing unmistakeably recalls Friedrich’s motifs, and its execution also approximates his manner of working, for example in the snow on the fir branches but also in the brightening of the sky above the haunting scene.