Skip to main content
The Walters Art Museum

Online Collection

Explore the Art Collection keyboard_arrow_down close
  • Explore By...
  • Category
  • Date
  • Medium
  • Creator
  • Places
  • Museum Locations
The Walters Art Museum walters-logo-white
  • Calendar
  • Art
  • Shop
  • Give Now
  • Visit
    • Plan Your Visit
    • Hours
    • Directions & Parking
    • Food, Drink, & Shop
    • Free Admission
    • Tours
    • Accessibility
    • Visitor Promise
  • Experience
    • Virtual Museum
    • Exhibitions & Installations
    • Programs & Events
    • Collections
    • Buildings
    • Baltimore
  • Support
    • Support the Walters
    • Corporate Partnerships
    • Institutional Funders
    • Evening at the Walters
    • Volunteers
  • About
    • Mission & Vision
    • Leadership
    • Strategic Plan
    • Land Acknowledgment
    • Research
    • Policies
Image for Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Creative Commons Zero

Download Image Zoom
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) Thumbnail
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832) Thumbnail

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832)

Pierre-Jean David d'Angers (French, 1788-1856) (Artist)
1829
bronze
(18th and 19th Centuries )

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749-1832), German poet, dramatist, and scientist, studied art and music while working as a newspaper critic. In 1776, he was appointed privy council to the duke of Saxe-Weimar and was ennobled in 1782. While pursuing his studies in science, he discovered the intermaxillary bone in man in 1784 and formulated a vertebral theory of the skull. Between 1786 and 1790 he became preoccupied with poetical form. Goethe's masterpiece, his version of Marlowe's "Faust," which he began in 1775, was completed in 1832. A towering influence on German literature, he died in 1832 in Weimar.

Inscription

[Signature] Bottom center: DAVID / WEIMAR; [Date] Bottom center: 1829; [Inscription] On left: GOETHE

Provenance
Provenance (from the French provenir, 'to come from/forth') is the chronology of the ownership, custody, or location of a historical object. Learn more about provenance at the Walters.

Mrs. Frederick B. Adams [date and mode of acquisition unknown]; Walters Art Museum, 1954, by gift.

Share
  • social-item
  • social-item
  • social-item

Geographies

Germany, Weimar (Place of Origin)

Measurements

H: 2 7/8 x W: 2 15/16 in. (7.3 x 7.4 cm)

Credit Line

Gift of Mrs. Frederick B. Adams, 1954

Location in Museum

Not on view

Accession Number

In libraries, galleries, museums, and archives, an accession number is a unique identifier assigned to each object in the collection.

54.2390

Do you have additional information?

Notify the curator

Hours

  • Wednesday—Sunday: 10 a.m.—5 p.m.
  • Thursday: 1–8 p.m.
  • Monday—Tuesday: Closed

Location

600 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD
21201

Phone

410-547-9000

  • Visit
  • Experience
  • What's On
  • About
  • Shop
  • Support The Walters
copyright

The Walters Art Museum

  • Accessibility
  • Privacy Policy/Terms of Use
  • Copyright Info
  • facebook
  • instagram
  • twitter
modal close
Image for
tooltip-icon Creative Commons License

Tooltip description to define this term for visitors to the website.

zoom-btn zoom-btn preview-download
  • arrow_forward_ios
  • arrow_forward_ios