Fingal's Battle with the Spirit of Loda 1797

Asmus Jacob Carstens (1754–1798): Fingal's Battle with the Spirit of Loda, 1797, 91 x 109.9 x 7.2 cm, oil on canvas, source: Statens Museum for Kunst / National Gallery of Denmark, KMS607, http://www.smk.dk/en/explore-the-art/search-smk/#/detail/KMS607. Public Domain.

Asmus Jacob Carstens shared his teacher Nicolai Abildgaard's fondness for Ossianic subjects. This painting illustrates a scene from Cath-Loda, Duan I:

"Fingal again advanced his steps, wide through the bosom of night, to where the trees of Loda shook amid squally winds. Three stones, with heads of moss, are there; a stream with foaming course: and dreadful, rolled around them, is the dark red cloud of Loda. High from its top looked forward a ghost, half formed of the shadowy stroke. He poured his voice, at times, amidst the roaring stream."

Asmus Jacob Carstens (1754–1798), Fingal's Battle with the Spirit of Loda, 91 x 109.9 x 7.2 cm, oil on canvas, 1797; source: Statens Museum for Kunst / National Gallery of Denmark, KMS607, http://www.smk.dk/en/explore-the-art/search-smk/#/detail/KMS607, Public Domain.