The Wounded Götz Cared for by the Bohemians

1836·Lithograph in black with scrapping on stone, on thin off-white paper laid down on thick ivory wove paper (chine colle')·Image: 30.4 × 23 cm (12 × 9 1/16 in.); Sheet: 35.7 × 27 cm (14 1/16 × 10 11/16 in.)

Drawing inspiration from literature and theater, Eugène Delacroix developed a long-standing interest in the writer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (1749–1832). He completed a series of prints based on the famous Faust and seven lithographs, including this one, from Goetz of Berlichingen. Goetz’s reputation as a noble knight spread so far that even the gypsies declared their loyalty to him and provided him with aid. Goethe highly praised Delacroix’s interpretations of scenes from his plays, such as this one.

Catalogue

Year: 1836
Medium: Lithograph in black with scrapping on stone, on thin off-white paper laid down on thick ivory wove paper (chine colle')
Dimensions: Image: 30.4 × 23 cm (12 × 9 1/16 in.); Sheet: 35.7 × 27 cm (14 1/16 × 10 11/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Eugene Delacroix

Artist

Eugene Delacroix

Painting

Born in 1789 in Paris, French Romantic painter Eugéne Delacroix received his early training from Pierre Guérin in a classicist vein. While that approach would have little effect on Delacroix’s ultimate artistic development, it was through this connection that he met the painter Théodore Gericault, creator of the masterwork Raft of the Medusa, 1818–19, a work for which Delacroix posed. Ultimately, Delacroix drew most of his inspiration from the plethora of art available for him to study at the Louvre. He was also exposed to a wide of array of literature, including the writing of Shakespeare, Byron, and Scott. It was those literary sources that would ultimately be the catalyst to Delacroix’s full embrace of Romanticism, despite the growing popularity of Neoclassicism.

Charenton-Saint-Maurice, France

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