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Author(s): Fuller-Walker
Source: The Aldine, Vol. 9, No. 11 (1879), pp. 348-350, 352-359, 361, 343
Stable URL: https://www.jstor.org/stable/20637661
Accessed: 24-07-2019 20:04 UTC
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34g THE A LDINE? THE ART JOURNAL OF A ALE RICA.
FAUST AND THE ARTISTS. evidently listening, busy drawing the thread of flax from the rude
distaff. The presence of the cat adds to the peacefulness an
ARTISTS of various schools and nationalities have sketched
.domesticity of the scene. Andriolli is an artist who treats h
upon the canvas their ideal of Margaret, the heroine of "figures
Faust,"with freedom and grace. There is unaffected simplicity
and with a collection of a dozen different pictures, by ashis work, which is sweetly natural, and therefore beautiful. H
many
studies
eminent painters, an interesting study may be made. Goethe, indirectly from nature. A charming work from his brush
"Spring,"
his 44 Autobiography," describes his second meeting with the real appeared in No. 3, vol. 9, of the Aldine. A mo
elaborate
Margaret, the memory of whom floats through the whole drama conception of Margaret is given by Liezen-Mayer, th
celebrated
of 44 Faust." He was to read a love poem, written for a friend. German artist, who appears to have regarded her in
He went to the inn where Gretchen lived. She 44 sat at the win
her social station as superior to the position Andriolli's picture
dow spinning. I glanced over the paper at the beautiful would indicate. She is robed in an elaborate costume, doubtle
girl,"
a study
says Goethe. And she is indeed beautiful, although a simple and of the dress of the period, the end of the eighteenth ce
tury, and her surroundings are far more sumptuous than the po
rustic maiden, as depicted by Andriolli. She sits by the window,
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THE ALDINE? THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA. 34<;
indicates. She is lost in thought, sobered by what has befallen picture will show. The artist's ideal has realized all that Goethe
her, and sings to herself the plaintive ballad beginning : has said of her, and already her sweet, pensive face has won our
admiration and sympathies. Margaret, returning from church, is
'' My heart is opprest,
My peace is o'er ;
accosted by Faust, and answers him somewhat curtly. Here be
I shall find it never, gins the love episode which gives to the poem a magic none can
And nevermore. resist. The illustration is from the seventh scene of the poem,
Where I have not him and supposes Margaret in the street in front of the Cathedral,
The grave doth seem ; coming from confession, where, as even Mephistopheles admits : t
The world is all
" So innocent is she, indeed,
Embittered with gall.
That to confess she had no need."
My poor, poor head
With frenzy is fraught ; Abashed at the boldness of Dr. Faust, who offers her his " arm
My poor, poor mind and escort," she casts down her eyes, replies that she can go home
Is wholly distraught."
without his care, and leaves, only to seek her own chamber, with
How beautifully all these thoughts are expressed in the face her head and heart turned with the gallant speech, and an intense
of Margaret, as seen in Liezen-Mayer's illustration, a glance at the desire to know more of the gentleman who offered her his escort.
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THE ALDINE ? THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA.
Alphonse Marie de Neuville, the celebrated French painter of his he drew for his "Goethe Gallery," represents Margaret going to
torical and military subjects, has treated this picture in the con church, with Faust and Mephisto beholding her for the first time
ventional manner of most artists, following the text of the poem. from the side of the street, but lacking the courage to speak to
Mephisto is seen lurking at a street corner, and the old gossips her. He evidently treated the subject in this manner for the pur
of the place are collected about the public fountain, as in the cele pose of avoiding the hackneyed conventionalism of other artists.
brated seventeenth scene of the poem, as if the artist intended to Nor was he without warrant for so doing, manifestly getting his
anticipate the action of the drama and foreshadow the fall of hint from Goethe himself, who says of Margaret, in his "Auto
Margaret. Professor W. Kaulbach, in one of the great pictures biography :" "As I could find no pretext to see her at home, and
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MARGARET BEFORE THE MATER DOLOROSA. ? A. vox Kreling.
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THE A LB INE - THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA. 353
would not seek one, I went to church for love of her. and had
the wall for support ; her hands clasped in the anguish of despair,
soon traced out where she sat. Thus, during the long Protestant and falling tenderly over all the light of a declining day. The
service, I gazed my fill at her." As Goethe expresses through dungeon picture is singularly dramatic and touching. The hair
Dr. Faust his own emotions and experiences, Kaulbach is justi is dishevelled, the dress is deshabille and neglected, the eyes are
fied in the artistic license which represents that personage gazing lusterless, the countenance has lost its expression of intelligence,
upon Margaret as she goes to church. and the only idea which apparently retains a hold upon her mind,
Of all the artists who have attempted to illustrate " Faust," judging from the story the hands tell, is in relation to her child.
Liezen-Mayer undoubtedly stands at the head. To him we look For has she not been tending and caressing the wisp of straw as
for the full realization of our highest ideal of Margaret, and his if it were a living infant ? The maternal instinct is stronger than
novel and charming conception of her meets every expectation. reason ; and, although chained in a dungeon, and unable to recog
We are fortunate in being able to give in this series of Faust nize even her lover, yet she rudely fashions a bundle of straw for
pictures three of his superb cartoons of the heroine of the tragedy : a baby and clasps it to her breast. Only a great artist, who
the beautiful, thoughtful, distraught girl at the spinning-wheel ; knows mothers and their children, who perhaps is himself a hus
the same Margaret at prayer, when she has cast herself and the band and father, could draw a picture like this.
flowers she brought ? roses, which the artist delights to introduce It is an interesting fact, especially so for Americans, that
into his pictures ? at the feet of the Mother of Sorrows ; and the Liezen-Mayer married a beautiful American woman from Balti
poor girl in the dungeon, quite insane from her troubles, with the more, whom he met while she was traveling abroad with her
face of her lover buried in her lap. Trace the powerful manner parents ; and this lady was the model for her artist-husband, the
in which the artist is able to depict the mental condition upon one woman above all others chosen to represent the most lofty
the countenance and form ; how the misery and anguish increases and beautiful ideal creation of Goethe's greatest poem. Tlfe
from the first false step to the hour of execution ! Now we see beautiful pictures of Margaret are portraits of the artist's wife, a
her in the lonely churchyard, her head bowed, and leaning against just tribute to American beauty ; and in the cartoon which repre
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354 THE ALDINE? THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA.
sh IB again, do we not see the tall artist and his handsome American
wife ? Lewes writes of this scene : " Very artful and very amus
ing is the contrast between this simple girl and her friend
Martha, who makes love to Mephisto with direct worldly shrewd
ness. The effect of this contrast is very fine." It has been well
brought out by the artist.
Alexander Liezen-Mayer is, at the present time, about forty
years of age, and holds the important position of Royal Professor
in the Academy of Arts at Munich. When quite a young man
he went to that city from his birth-place in Hungary and became
one of the famous Piloty school, which has educated such artists
as Professor Wagner, also a Hungarian, Gabriel Max, and Hans
Makart of Vienna. He was a member of the jury for the Inter
national Art Exhibition held at Munich in 1879. Recently he
visited Hungary, where he was received with great attention and
sents Margaret playing with her little sister, who wasofficial
such ahonors. The cardinal primate Simor, a patron of art,
world of care, the artist has introduced his own handsomeinvited
child.him and his wife to pay a visit to Gran, his episcopal seat,
And who shall say that the tall, well-formed, good-looking andFaust
the Minister of the Interior, Trefort, ordered from him a his
in these cartoons is not Liezen-Mayer himself? A Hungarian torical
bywork for the National Museum at Buda-Pesth, the artist
to choose
birth, he is a very tall, well-built, manly man, with the fine fea his own subject.
tures proverbial among his countrymen, and he wears an immense Two of Liezen-Mayer's pictures, in our collection, "The Gar
mustache, like Prof. Wagner's. den Scene" and "Oberon and Titania's Golden Wedding," have
beenare
Three other pictures in this collection, by Liezen-Mayer, set in fanciful and appropriate frames by Rudolph Seitz, an
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THE A ED INE? THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA. 355
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THE A LEINE?THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA.
range and lofty in aspiration. History in epochs, which are land and many others. Whatever may be thought of Makart as an
marks in the world's civilization ; philosophy that teaches through artist, in this country or France, he ranks among the first, if not
example ; poetry as manifested in the creations of Shakespeare as the leading artist of Austria, and has recently received unusual
and Goethe ; life in its light and shade, in the climax of its joy honors. He is admitted to be one of the greatest colorists of the
and the depths of its sorrow ? such are the subjects which, in times, although there are those who style his pictures, " great,
their diversity and import, measure the genius and circumscribe false decorative machines." But his art talent is indisputable ; he
the labors of Kaulbach. In style, too, as in subject, this painter possesses a marked individuality ; he draws with freedom and
displays the same versatility ; by turns he is grave and gay. correctness, is master of composition and dramatic effect. His
Like dramatists and actors of first quality, he is great at once in group of " Faust and Margaret" is at once beautiful, plastic and
comedy and in tragedy ; his impersonations, in short, are close powerful. The moment represented by the picture is when Mar
upon the models of JPhidias and Raphael, of D?rer and Hogarth." garet starts up from her seat in prison, clutches the head of her
All the noted Austrian painters are graduates of the Munich lover with her hand, and appears to have a gleam of conscious
Academy, nearly without exception ? Munkacsy, Makart, Canon recognition, as Faust bids her fly with him and escape the im
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THE ALDINE?THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA. 357
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358 THE ALDI NE? THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA.
before a house full of people, whose eyes are wet with tears in Virgin," "Aurora," "Marguerite" (which was exhibited in the
sympathy with the misfortunes of Margaret ? The cunning and Salon in 1875), "Magdalene," "Know Thyself," " Lesbia," etc.
intriguing character of Mephisto are plainly brought out in the It would require a volume to describe all the pictures produced
picture. Guetzner is a great character drawer, and admirably by the European artists who have attempted to illustrate
represents all the stages of intoxication, gluttony and fondness "Faust." While only four or five artists have touched the second
for liquors, in such pictures as "A Heavy Pull," 44 Light and Dry," part of " Faust," it would seem that nearly every German great
44 The Monastery Wine Cellar," 44 The Butler's Breakfast," 44 Self figure painter must have tried his hand on the more human first
Contented," 44 A Taste of the Best," 44 Hours of Recreation," and part. A gentleman in Boston, Mr. Henry W. Holland, has been
other of his numerous similar works. He is the best illustrator for some years engaged in making a collection of Faust pictures,
of Shakespeare's 44 Merry Wives of Windsor" that has yet ap and although he considers it far from complete, it contains some
peared, and has published an incomparable series of cartoons of two hundred large, as well as many small engravings, and a great
44 Falstaff," showing this hero with his page Robin, with Mrs. Page, number of original drawings, sketches, cartoons, etc. He regards
on the battlefield, meeting Mrs. Ford, recruiting, bragging, and the series of Faust pictures by James Tissot?a Frenchman by
disowned, all excellent in conception and execution. birth, but long a resident of England?as having the most tender
The last picture of the present series of illustrations of feeling. His picture of the "Meeting of Faust and Marguerite,"
" Faust" is by Jacques Bertrand, and represents " Margaret and painted in 1861, is in the Luxembourg. Besides his pictures in
her Babe." The work is essentially dramatic, and peculiarly the Holland collection, there is a "Marguerite" by Tissot in the
French in its composition and treatment. The poem of "Faust" Walters gallery in Baltimore ; and " Faust and Marguerite," said
touches very lightly upon the subject of Margaret's child, and the to be a fine work of its kind, is in the collection of Mrs. H. E.
reader is left to infer that the mother killed it. In this picture we Maynard of Boston. The series of illustrations for " Faust " by
see a child which is much older than an infant ; the Margaret is the eminent Peter von Cornelius are regarded by Mr. Holland as
a tolerable one ; the Mephisto, playing upon a musical instrument the most powerful in drawing. As a boy this artist had great
in the window-seat, is simply a caricature, and his presence in literary tastes, and was fond to excess of Goethe, Tieck, Novalis
this painful scene is wholly intolerable. Bertrand is an artist of and other authors. He executed a series of designs for " Faust,"
the first rank, a pupil of Perin, and a Chevalier of the Legion of and another series for the " Niebelungenlied." He was not a
Honor. Among his well-known pictures are the "Death of Vir colorist, but excelled in the expression of thought in his works ;
ginia," in the Luxembourg; "Echo," "The Education of the hence so many persons prefer his cartoons. It has been said of
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U
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THE A ED INE? THE ART JOURNAL OF AMERICA. 361
Cornelius that "he seems to have been imbued by the spirit of a woman is standing by the lattice-work window, tears falling
Goethe in his conceptions, and to have struggled to imitate over her cheeks. It has been noticed as a curious art coincidence
Michael Angelo in his manner." that there is an almost exact identity in design of the Delacroix
Other artists who have illustrated "Faust" are Paul Konewka, and Ary Schaeffer pictures of " Margaret in the Church." The
who died in 1871, and was so celebrated for his silhouettes, which effect is quite different, of course, and Schaeffer was too spiritual
were as truly creations as Flaxman's "Outlines;" Prof. Moritz to put the evil spirit in the church in the flesh, but otherwise the
Retzsch of Dresden, who died in 1857, and who published a series resemblance is very close. Ferdinand-Victor Eugene Delacroix,
of illustrations for "Faust," as well as of Schiller's and Shakes who died in 1863, was a "romanticist" who painted innumerable
peare's works ; Engelbert Siebert, one of the few artists who works on all sorts of subjects. His illustrations of " Faust " were
have illustrated the second part of " Faust ;" L. Hoffman, and approved by Goethe himself. ?Fidler- Walker.
Gabriel Max, who made six original drawings of " Faust," all of
which are in the possession of Mr. Holland of Boston. These are
"Faust in His Study," "Easter Morning," " Walpurgis Night,"
FAUST AND THE BOOKMAKERS.
THREE sumptuous editions of the first part of "Faust" have
"Mephisto as Faust," "Margaret Before the Mater Dolorosa," been issued by the bookmakers, known as the Seibertz edition,
and " Faust and Mephistopheles." Of notable single pictures the Kreling " Faust," and the Liezen-Mayer. As long ago as 1850
illustrating " Faust," mention should be made of the Rembrandt the great publishing house of Cotta, in Stuttgart, which owned
etching of Faust and the Earth Spirit, and the tremendous Gr?tz the copyright of Goethe's and Schiller's works, brought out a fine
ner head of Mephistopheles ; the Dore-like Chiflort of the Hartz edition of "Faust," illustrated by E. Seibertz. For many years
witch meeting, and some sweet Margarets by Cabanel, Bertrand, this was the only illustrated edition. Many of the pictures were
Max, Merle and others. A Margaret shown in New York a year well designed, and, as a rule, the male characters of "Faust" re
or two ago, and still at the Schaus gallery, by Cabanel, is tender ceived good treatment at the hand of the artist , but he signally
and sorrowful, but is not the ideal Margaret. The half-figure of failed in his rendition of the female characters. Goethe was cer
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MARGARET AT THE FOUNTAIN. ?Akter Ary Schaeffer.
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