Illustration for Goethe
1842
Medium
Watercolor, over graphite (?). Three framing lines, the inner one in pen and brown ink, the outer ones in graphite.
Dimensions
sheet: 12 1/4 x 9 3/16 in. (31.1 x 23.4 cm) mount: 16 3/4 x 12 13/16 in. (42.5 x 32.6 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, C. G. Boerner Gift, 2010
Accession Number
2010.274
Tags
Art Historical Context
Leopold Schulz's *Illustration for Goethe* (1842) captures a vivid, dramatic scene likely inspired by one of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's literary masterpieces evoking the Romantic spirit of 19th-century Germany. Rendered in watercolor over graphite with intricate framing lines—inner in pen and brown ink, outer in—the drawing depicts men wielding swords amid rivers, boats, and drinking, suggesting a moment ofry, conflict, or adventure. Goethe, who died a decade earlier, profoundly influenced European arts and letters, and Schulz's work reflects the era's fascination with illustrating his epic ...