Faust and Mephistopheles in the Hartz Mountains (Goethe, Faust)

Description

Faust and Mephistopheles travel through the Hartz Mountains in Delacroix’s dark landscape, with a mounted figure in the foreground and a trail of figures higher at the left. Eugène Delacroix brings Faust and Mephistopheles into the Hartz Mountains through a scene whose terrain shares the drama of the named characters. The nighttime lithograph gives the encounter a layered space, allowing travel and surrounding darkness to participate in the subject.

Dating to 1825–27, the lithograph belongs to Delacroix’s Faust illustrations. It gives a passage from an unfolding drama a continuing printed presence, concentrating its subject into a scene that can be revisited. The image’s interest lies in that change of medium, allowing characters and setting to remain engaging beyond the pace of a spoken or read narrative.

Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Eugène Delacroix collection.