Faust and Marguerite in the Garden

1846 · Private collection

other

Scheffer became particularly well-known as a painter of Goethe's Faust, a contemporary drama with roots in a sixteenth-century story. Scheffer's interest in the Faust story can be traced back to 1825, and between 1831 and 1858 he painted eight major compositions with themes from Faust, most of them episodes centring on Marguerite. The subject of Faust and Marguerite in the garden of her neighbour Martha who looks on with Mephistopheles comes from Part One of Goethe's Faust.

About the Artist

Ary Scheffer

1795 – 1858

Dutch painter, engraver, and book illustrator, active for almost all his career in Paris. His work was immensely popular in his lifetime, but is now generally considered sentimental. Early in his career he favoured literary themes (Francesca da Rimini, Wallace Collection, London 1835, and other versions ), but later he turned to mawkishly treated religious subjects (SS. Augustine and Monica, National Gallery, London, 1854, and other versions). He also painted many portraits. His work is well represented in the museum at Dordrecht, his native town.

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