Man and Woman in a Landscape (Faust and Marguerite)

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Richard Parkes Bonington

ca. 1826–27 · Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of graphite · Drawings and Prints

Rich brown ink is used here to describe a hilly landscape with a gallant figure in late medieval dress reading to a demure young woman. They likely represent Faust and Marguerite from Goethe's dramatic poem "Faust" (1808). The latter tells how a young nobleman becomes fascinated with magic, sells his soul to the devil and seduces and destroys the innocent Marguerite. Dramatic literary subjects of this kind appealed to the British-born Bonington, and to French artists he knew in Paris. His close friend Delacroix once owned this drawing and, in 1828, would create a series of seventeen lithographs inspired by Faust.

Artist

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe|Richard Parkes Bonington

Date

ca. 1826–27

Medium

Pen and brown ink, brush and brown wash, over traces of graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Anonymous Gift, in memory of Sisi Cahan, 2000