Goethe in the Roman Campagna

Goethe set out for Italy in September 1786. He travelled under a false name to avoid being recognised as the famous author of Werther. In Rome he retained his pseudonym, even for those who knew his true identity. He stayed with Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, the painter of this painting, whom he had previously known only through letters. The two went on various adventures and short trips together, including an expedition to the “destroyed gravesites along the Via Appia” (Goethe). The impressions of that joint experience are reflected in this famous full-length portrait of the writer, painted a short time later. Here, Tischbein does stage the “great Goethe” after all – as a man between the epochs, between antiquity and the present.

In 1887 the painting was donated to the Städel museum by the private collector Adèle von Rothschild, at a time when the Goethe cult was at its peak. The new German Empire was looking for significant cultural icons which could form a collective past: Goethe and Schiller were elevated to national status. Tischbein's portrait became symbolic of the German high life of knowledge, art and culture. The painting is one of the highlights of the Städel collection, and is considered an icon of German national painting. It played an indisputable role in shaping the image of Goethe as he is perceived today, as embodying Germany's classical humanistic ideal.