Artl@s Bulletin

Volume 10 Issue 1 Images in Circulation Article 4

Extensive and Intensive Iconography. Goethe’s Faust Outlined

Evanghelia Stead UVSQ & IUF, [email protected]

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Recommended Citation Stead, Evanghelia. "Extensive and Intensive Iconography. Goethe’s Faust Outlined." Artl@s Bulletin 10, no. 1 (2021): Article 4.

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Extensive and Intensive Iconography. Goethe’s Faust Outlined

Evanghelia Stead UVSQ Paris-­Saclay & Institut Universitaire de France

Abstract The article examines the mark left by Moritz Retzsch’s 26 outline etchings after Goethe’s Faust (1816) distinguishing between extensive and intensive iconography in their circula- tion. In extensive iconography, copied or imitated images build a collective imagination, de- valuing the original, albeit contributing to its aura — a view that challenges W. Benjamin’s - ing a particular scene genuine reinterpretation. How then should we value multiples, copies andinfluential genuine essay. re-­workings In intensive in modern iconography, print culture?inventive artists rework Retzsch’s images, grant

Résumé L’article examine l’empreinte des 26 gravures au trait de Moritz Retzsch d’après le Faust de Goethe (1816) en distinguant entre iconographie extensive et intensive dans leur circulation. L’iconographie extensive désigne des images copiées ou imitées construisant un imaginaire collectif, dévaluant l’œuvre originale, mais contribuant à son aura — ce qui questionne l’es-

évaluersai influent les multiples, de W. Benjamin. les copies Cependant, et les réinterprétations les artistes inventifs, authentiques qui retravaillent dans la culture Retzsch impri et- méeréinterprètent moderne ? puissamment une scène, dessinent une iconographie intensive. Comment

Evanghelia Stead, fellow of the Institut Universitaire de France, is Professor of Comparative Literature at the UVSQ Paris-Saclay, a linguist and literary translator. She has published extensively on fin-de-­ siècle culture, Greek and Latin myths in modern literature, literature and iconography, books as cul- tural objects, periodicals, and ‘the Thousand and Second Night’.

Artl@s Bulletin, Vol. 10, Issue 1 (Spring 2021) Stead ­– Extensive and Intensive Iconography

How is a canonical author consecrated? How does Loose Leaves and Outlines a major text enter the national canon, become the Fliegende Blätter is the very title of a popular hu- very representative of that canon itself? Goethe’s moristic magazine published 1845–1944 in Mu- 1808 Faust may be considered as such. It entered nich, and profusely illustrated. The material I study early the accepted body of texts that founded is not satirical, although fancy and spirit pervaded 19th-­century German literature, was deemed rep- Moritz Retzsch’s work on Goethe’s Faust. When he resentative of the German spirit, has fostered the pictured for instance the Witch’s Kitchen in two author’s fame worldwide, and is still today a major successive plates of his Umrisse, he drew tiny crea- classroom text. Establishment scenarios, such as tures bobbing in the vapours of the witch’s caul- the one it underwent, are generally based on his- dron, an inquisitive-looking­ owl marching on the torical investigation and reception studies, mostly mantelpiece (pl. 6), then bewildered at what it saw in consideration of textual tradition, whether sub- (Faust drinking the magic potion in order to reju- ject matter be material (printed items) or immate- venate, pl. 7), a spider at the end of its thread drop- rial (contents). In this article, I look at how images ping from the ceiling, and a string of frogs hanging contribute to the process through the productive from the wall to which I refer later (Figs. 1 & 4). metaphor of fliegende Blätter (loose leaves), in- What may have been an ominous atmosphere was - played down by witty details. cantly to launching the 1808 Faust and instituting volving outline images. These contributed signifi it as a key work. An iconological precedent had Moritz Retzsch’s twenty-six­ outlines spread quickly emerged earlier in John Flaxman’s outline treat- from Germany. They pleased readers and collec- ment of major literary works such as the Iliad, the tors and were much in demand. As early as 1817 Odyssey, Aeschylus’s tragedies, and Dante’s Com- they reached England as a gift from an important media at the end of the 18th century. My key ex- ample, Moritz Retzsch’s Umrisse zu Goethe’s Faust 1 German publisher, Friedrich Christoph Perthes, to (Outlines after Goethe’s Faust) , followed on these. of German culture in London3. Following publica- Henry Crabb Robinson, a socialite and key mediator Originally published in 1816 by Johann Friedrich tion, the originals were imported by a resource- - ful German bookseller in London, Johann Heinrich edy’s sales by attracting buyers2. The series is the Bohte, and sold on the UK market with a short En- Cotta, Goethe’s main publisher, it boosted the trag glish summary and separate captions. Soon, they draughtsman, and engraver Friedrich August were copied by a London engraver, Henry Moses, first important published work of Dresden painter, Moritz Retzsch (1779–1857), an artist neglected in Germany, who met with success and appraisal English sensibility and sense of decorum. When sometimes with significant changes that placated in Europe, particularly in Great Britain, also by il- for instance Goethe’s Faust opens in heaven with a lustrating several Shakespeare plays. His plates set dialogue between God and the devil, precisely pic- some of the trends Goethe’s Faust’s iconological tured by Retzsch, Moses replaced Retzsch’s repre- canon, rapidly forming in the 19th century, would sentation of God by a radiant vacuum in deference prolong. to the second commandment (Exodus 20:4, Deu- teronomy 5:8). Moses’s copy itself went through a remarkable number of reprints, copies, and adap- tions in the 1820s and 1830s. Even an American

1 The approach and methodology used in this article are part of Goethe’s “Faust” Out- lined, a monograph I am currently working on for publication. The latter bears on the many parts played by Moritz Retzsch’s 1816 outlines after Goethe’s Faust, eine 3 Tragödie (1808), their circulation and reception in three main European cultural England and Germany. See mainly Hertha Marquardt, Henry Crabb Robinson und seine contexts, the German states, Great Britain (mainly England), and France, from their deutschen There is Freunde.an extensive Brücke bibliography zwischen England on the role und ofDeutschland Henry Crabbe im Zeitalter Robinson der between Roman- publication onwards. tik 2 - and Eugene L. Stelzig, Henry Crabb Robinson in Germany: A Study in Nineteenth-­ lagsbuchhandlung,” in Buchillustration im 19. Jahrhundert, ed. Regine Timm (Wies- Century, 2 vols Life (Göttingen: Writing Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, “Palaestra, 237, 249,” 1964–1967), baden: See Dorothea Im Kommission Kuhn, “Verleger bei Otto undHarrassowitz, Illustrator. “Wolfenbüttel Am Beispiel der Schriften J. G. Cotta’schen zur Geschichte Ver The Coleridge Bulletin 38 (Winter 2011), 129–33, and Frederick des Buchwesens, Band 15,” 1988), 225. Burwick, Wordsworth (Lewisburg, Circle 41:4 (AutumnPA: Bucknell 2010), University 244–47. Press, 2010). Reviewed by Philipp Hunnekuhl,

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lithographed version appeared in 1824. These im- designed in blue and fuchsia, for the second part of ages triggered translations of Faust into English. Faust in 18369 Further versions adorned various English items, both together, a total of 40 plates in correspond- , and Cotta astutely commercialized Faust illus- ing new albums. Second, through the new multi- trated editions in the 19th century4 plication processes prevalent in the 19th century and ended up as a regular fixture of France, where two Faust translations had already (lithography, engraved copies on copper or steel, . Conversely, in been published by 1823, Retzsch’s series had a lon- wood-engraved­ replicas, and later photo-mechanical­ ger and more varied fortune. Lithographed by Jean-­ reproductions), they became loose leaves or insert Baptise Muret in 18245, later re-engraved­ by Trueb, plates in numerous successful publications. At least Branche, and others6, it survived in multiple forms ten of those saw the light in England between 1820 until the 1940s, as a wide-ranging­ series of repro- and the 1840s. Three versions were published in ductions and books for diverse audiences. Other France between 1824 and 1830 and the plates also countries were keen on having their own Retzsch, 10. or books adorned with Retzsch plates. These triggered other copies and reproductions, travelled to Belgium, Poland or the Netherlands setting new patterns in Faust iconography. They also Moritz Retzsch’s twenty-six­ plates were originally etched by the artist himself. In a single frame, with- we shall see. In so doing, they established Goethe’s out captions, numbered above right from 1 to 26, significantly inspired major artists in their work, as reputation, easing the way for Faust to be known and they were simply held together by string. They sat, appreciated. escorted by a booklet of Faust quotations, in a clev- erly designed portfolio. A yellow folder in landscape Madame de Staël’s comment in her renowned book On Germany (1814), in which a chapter lengthily side to disclose the plates and the slightly smaller comments Goethe’s Faust, well shows the extent format with green flaps opened on the right-­hand booklet of quotes, whose green back pleasantly - - comprehension and even awe: to which the play inspired his first readers with in tents could be compared, perused in alternation, echoed the portfolio’s green flaps. Each of the con together or separately. taste, or measure, or the art that selects and termi- Certainly, we must not expect to find in it either

in numerous ways. First, the serial engravings were an intellectual chaos, such as the material chaos Circulation marked this genuine and fanciful work nates; but if the imagination could figure to itself issued in Germany as multiple exemplars, and then has often been painted, the “Faustus” of Goethe reissued from 1820 (even 18187). A revamped should have been composed at that epoch. It can- and augmented edition followed in 1834, in which not be exceeded in boldness of conception, and the Retzsch added three new plates8. He also published recollection of this production is always attended eleven outlines in a separate portfolio, also cleverly with a sensation of giddiness.11

4 On Retzsch’s reception in England, see mainly Stella Esther Odenkirchen, “Moritz to translate a Faust passage into English and look- Retzsch, Illustrator, with Special Reference to his Relation to England” (Master of Arts Percy Bysshe Shelley’s comment, while attempting German Roman- ing at Retzsch’s plates replicated by Henry Moses, is ticism and English Art diss., University of Chicago, December 1948), and William Vaughan, - also revealing. Retzsch’s compositions clearly facili- ments, including corrections, (New Haven will be and added London: to these Published studies. for the Paul Mellon Centre for5 Faust Studies in British Art by Yale University Press, 1979), 123–54. Further develop- tated comprehension and rivalled the text: tionale de France dates this either 1820 or 1840, but it was indeed issued in 1824 as (Paris: ChezBibliographie Auvray, Marchand de la France d’Estampes, and press n.d. reviews. [1824]). The Bibliothèque na 6 Faust, vingt-six­ gravures d’après les dessins de Retsch sic Faust,confirmed esquisses by the dessinées par Retsch sic 9 Umrisse zu Goethe’s Faust, zweiter theil. Gezeichnet von Moritz Retzsch. Elf Platten, 7 [ ] (Publié par Audot, 1828). nebst Andeutungen - Bohte’s A Catalogue of Books [ ], (Paris: Giard, 1830). lung, 1836). which, This date as German (1818) bookseller is an object established of controversy. in London, It figures he listed however the German in Johann edition Heinrich with 10 It would be pointless (Stuttgart to explore und theseAugsburg: items Verlag here. The der forthcomingJ. G. Cotta’schen monograph Buchhand an- the indication “Tübingen.” It (London:is further Published referred to by in Schulze “Foreign and Literary Dean, 1819), Gazette,” 203, The in nounced in note 1 analyses them in detail. Literary Panorama 8:51 (December 1818), 1490. 11 Madame de Staël, “Faustus,” in On Germany (London: John Murray 1814), vol. II, 8 Umrisse zu Goethe’s Faust, erster Theil, gezeichnet von Moritz Retzsch, von dem Ver- 181–82; excerpt quoted in Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Faust, A Tragedy, Interpreta- fasser selbst retouchirt und mit einigen neuen Platten vermehrt (Stuttgart und Tübin- tive Notes, Contexts, Modern Criticism

, 2nd ed., ed. Cyrus Hamlin, trans. Walter Arndt gen: in der J. G. Cotta’schen Buchhandlung, 1834). (New York and London: W. W. Norton and Company, 2001), 558. 49 Artl@s Bulletin, Vol. 10, Issue 1 (Spring 2021)

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What etchings those are! I am never satiated with the outline aesthetic. He was stirred by John Flax- looking at them, and, I fear it is the only sort of man’s outlines that had widely circulated in Europe translation of which Faust is susceptible—I never - ever, diverging from Flaxman’s sparse treatment, thanks to Tommaso Piroli’s engraved albums. How until I saw the etching.—And then, Margaret in the both in number of plates and detail, his German em- perfectly understood the Har[t]z Mountain scene, summer-house­ with Faust!—The artist makes one ulator had multiplied the horizontal frames around envy his happiness that he can sketch such things a key incident, revealing its evolution. Their slow with calmness, which I dared only to look upon once, and silent succession turned the 1808 Faust into a and which made my brain swim round only to touch visual narrative. This implied a few essential distor- the leaf on the opposite side of which I knew that it tions of the play’s meaning I broach elsewhere16. In a - nutshell, his plates were not only outlines in August passed Faust, or that the pencil surpasses language was figured. —Whether it is that the artist has sur in some subjects, I know not; or that I am more af- Athenaeum, Schlegel Wilhelm Schlegel’s sense. Penning a well-­known fected by a visible image—but the etching certainly had stressed the poetic nature of outline drawings, and influential article in the excited me here more than the poem it illustrated12. inciting the reader’s imagination to complete the picture, explore, and thus understand the poem for Third, French reviews of the time encouraged art- her- ­or himself. Schlegel wrote characteristically: ists to use Muret’s copies as models to train their hand in outline13. Fourth, their modest price and Ihre Zeichen werden fast Hieroglyphen, wie die availability made them ready cut-and-­ ­paste ma- terial, as in the early example of Thomas Frognall ergänzen, und nach der empfangenen Anregung des Dichters; die Phantasie wird aufgefordert zu Dibdin’s Bibliographical, Antiquarian and Pictur- selbständig fortzubilden, statt daß das ausgeführte esque Tour in France and Germany. They amused Gemählde sie durch entgegen kommende Befrie- Dibdin better against the ennui of “dull Stuttgart,” where he had visited the publisher’s bookshop and des Dichters eigentlich Beschwörungsformeln für digung gefangen nimmt. [. . .] So wie die Worte acquired the original Umrisse. According to his say- Leben und Schönheit sind, denen man nach ihren Bestandtheilen ihre geheime Gewalt nicht anmerkt, and pasted the characters of the outlines into his so kommt es einem bey dem gelungenen Umriß wie ings in a fictive letter later turned chapter, he cut prose while giving his opinion both on Retzsch’s eine wahre Zauberey vor, daß in so wenigen und work and Goethe’s tragedy. He later reproduced zarten Strichen so viel Seele wohnen kann17. this composition in his Tour, the outlines being Their signs almost become hieroglyphs, like those - of the poet; from the stimulus received, imagi- now woodcuts by [John] Byfield, one of the By nation is encouraged to complete and continue to works14. Such a treatment styles Dibdin’s 1821 fields regularly contributing woodcuts to Dibdin’s example an early precursor of the scrapbook and hold it prisoner through a gratifying sense of satis- 20th-­century collage15. create independently, whereas, finished paintings - Retzsch had turned the tragedy into a silent picture ently bewitching formulae for life and beauty, even faction. [. . .] Just as the words of the poet are inher story, shaping characters, places and plot by using if one does not perceive the secret power of their components, it turns out, as if by true magic, that in a successful outline so much soul can dwell in so 12 The Letters of Percy Bysshe few delicate lines18. Shelley (n° Percy 697). Bysshe Shelley to John Gisborne, 10 April 1822, in 13 See, for, ed. instance, Frederick “Variétés: L. Jones Faust,” (Oxford: Gazette At thede France Clarendon 7 (7 janvier Press, 1964),1824), 4. vol. II, 407 14 Oxford Dictionary 16 of National Biography, published in print: 23 September 2004, published online: 23 17 August Wilhelm Schlegel, “Über Zeichnungen zu Gedichten und John Flaxman’s September See Susanna 2004, Avery- https://doi-­Quash, “Byfield­org.janus.bis- family­sorbonne.fr/10.1093/ref:odnb/64208 (per. c. 1814–1886),” . Umrisse,” Commented Athenaeum, in detail eine in the Zeitschrift monograph von August (note 1). Wilhelm Schlegel und Friedrich Schle- 15 A Bibli- gel II: 2 (1799), 205, digitale Edition von Jochen A. Bär (Vechta, “Quellen zur Literatur- ­ ographical, Antiquarian and Picturesque Tour in France and Germany http://www. Tho[mas] Frognall Dibdin, “Letter XXXVII. Stuttgart, August 4, 1818,” in zbk-­online.de/texte/A0002.htm. (with parts from six Retzsch plates focussed upon, cut out, and inserted). (London: Printed und18 My Kunstreflexion translation after des discussion. 18. und 19. Jahrhunderts, Reihe A, Nr. 2,” 2014), for the Author by W. Bulmer and W. Nicol, Shakspeare Press, 1821), vol. III, 120–30

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In a much simpler sense, particularly in the many The main question is then: how are these fliegende re-­workings they went through, Retzsch’s outlines Blätter to be evaluated, what tools are to be used to were also seen as unpretentious engravings in con- assess their importance and malleability? tour: for an untried eye, they simply outlined the I suggest using extensive vs. intensive iconography. I play, sketched, and condensed Faust, thereby offer- coined the term in 200520 by reference to Ségolène ing a summary or synopsis that could be variously Le Men’s article on “extensive” and “intensive cul- re-­interpreted. ture of the image” in Jean-François­ Millet’s work21. Le Men expertly studies how Millet is extensively diffused thanks to reproduction from the 1850s, Cultural Objects in Circulation down to everyday life trivial and popular objects, Importantly, as they met with text in various forms against the background of an internationalized art (whether captions, summaries, excerpts, even Faust market and competition between nations (Millet’s in full or partial translation), these pictures worked painting L’Angélus acquired by the United States very differently from massive commentary. They outbidding France). She also shows how the artist turned into inter-semiotic­ tools, making numer- expertly condensed and reduced an overabundance ous claims on a text they borrowed from but also of images and materials into iconic compositions, changed, all the while contributing to understand- his work preserving a tension between extensive ing, appreciating, and establishing it. They replaced and intensive culture. The incentive for such ter- its fragmentary construction by a more or less structured and uninterrupted narrative, strung “extensive” and “intensive reading,” borrowed from minology comes from Roger Chartier’s notion of together scenes and events, brought forward German and American reading theories22. Inten- characters, and highlighted situations. The com- - bined effect made different demands on readers’ responds to a period in which books are sparse, sive reading, following Chartier and his peers, cor competences—textual­ linearity on one hand, over-­ valuable, and infused with (often religious) aura. intricate and silent representations on the other, Reading communities might gather around a key either in succession, or echoing a motif within - the series. Easily copied and cheap to reproduce, versely, extensive reading matches the age of mul- mentor, who would read aloud for a group. Con Retzsch’s compositions gave birth to a number of tiple printed books, negligible by-­products of the printed items, which, although they might look industrial era, easily discarded, often destroyed. Le the same, read very differently, depending on how - loose plates were inserted between text quires, and tensive” from history of reading to other cultural Men first proposed to import “intensive” and “ex how readers perused them. As decorative designs areas, particularly image and art reception. The on covers, they also became clever marketing tools, pattern is readily applicable, from books to images, moulding books and albums as intriguing magical especially in the 19th century, rich in new tech- objects or desirable acquisitions. In one of these niques of multiplication and reproduction. I follow albums, a combination of magical elements is re- suit further transferring the concept from text to produced in gilt on the front cover. In a second ver- its iconographic interpretations, from one seminal sion of the same, the cover reproduces a detail from

Retzsch’s plate 10, showing Faust amorously con- 20 See Évanghélia Stead, “Le voyage des images du Faust I de Goethe. Lecture, récep- templating Gretchen’s bed19. In short, they shaped tion et iconographie extensive et intensive au e siècle,” in L’Image à la lettre, ed. an important part of Goethe’s Faust reception and xix Nathalie21 Ségolène Preiss Le Men,& Joëlle “Millet Raigneau et sa diffusion(Paris: Paris- gravée,Musées­ dans et l’ère Les Éditionsde la reproductibilité des Cendres, made a long-­standing mark on Faust iconography. 2005),technique,” 137–68, in Jean- 10 fig.François­ Millet (Au-­delà de l’Angélus) -

22 Pratiques de la lecture (Marseille:, colloque Rivages, de Cerisy, 1985), ed. 62–88. Gene viève Lacambre (Paris: Éditions Derde Monza, Bürger 2002), als Leser. 370–87. Lesergeschichte in Deutschland, 1500–1800 Roger Chartier, (Stuttgart: ed., J. B. Metzlersche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1974), and David D. ChartierHall, “Introduction: recalls Rolf the Engelsing, Uses of Literacy in New England, 1600–1850,” in Printing and 19 Illustrations of Goethe’s Faust by Moritz Retzsch Engraved by Henry Moses (London: Society in Early America, ed. by William L. Joyce et al. (Worcester: American Antiquar- Tilt and Bogue, 1843). ian Society, 1983), 1–47.

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artist to several, from Retzsch’s originals to their opened the series with Werther24. Faust shortly multiple re-workings,­ reception, and aftermath, joined the ranks in a revised version of Gérard de and from Goethe’s several iconographic interpre- Nerval’s translation25 tations to their gradual establishment of an icono- . Perhaps surprisingly for graphic canon. seminal to Nerval studies this his last contribution such a lowly publication, significant additions make to translating and interpreting Faust in French26. Al- Extensive iconography applies indeed to the “veri- though such items tend to be overlooked, external eine wahre Bilderflut23) with appearance sometimes masking the value of con- which artists across Europe hailed Goethe’s 1808 table flood of images” ( tents, the inexpensive brochure harbours in fact an Faust, and strove to interpret, transpose or illus- edition of major importance. Images gave it extra trate it. It underlines the role of images, active in weight. the migration of motifs from artist to artist, while showing how they gradually constitute a collec- Ten in-­text illustrations, hyped as “drawings by tive imagination. Images and motifs pass from one Édouard Frère,” adorn the 44-­page quarto, shame- edition to another, as when Édouard Frère from lessly copied from Retzsch via Muret or some other 1850, or Gaston Jourdain in 1904, copy, highlight, go-­between. In black and white contrast they focus and rework key scenes by Retzsch. An intensive on the main scene, with astute gradual shadowing. iconography however persists within the exten- They enhance effect by preceding, paralleling or sive trend, allowing for genuine reinterpretation within characteristic books. Such is the case of of Faust. Édouard Frère, not yet a popular genre finishing off the most touching or gripping parts Delacroix’s brilliant development of Faust’s meet- painter specializing in domestic scenes, treated ing with Gretchen, on the basis of a Retzsch plate, in Retzsch in ways appealing to the masses, cut in his celebrated Faust issued by Auguste Sautelet and revamped Retzsch copies titillated the reader from wood by Belgian engraver [François] Rouget. Four what I mean. p. 12–13—well before the text. In one of these, Charles Motte in 1828. A closer look will elucidate Frère focussed on Retzsch’s plate 6, of Faust con- templating in the witch’s magic mirror a reclining Extensive iconography young woman, her eyes shut, comely yet chastely dressed (Fig. 1). In Frère’s rendering, the graceful

served as main artist for Joseph Bry’s “Literary Il- Under financial pressure, young Édouard Frère bared breasts, passionately gesturing as if in wild lustrated Evenings” (Les Veillées littéraires illustrées, figure becomes a feverish sheet-­clad female with dreams or a fantastic amorous embrace (Fig. 2). 1849–1856) meant for the popular classes. Joseph Yet even this detail is not of Frère’s invention, since Bry had instigated the roman à quatre sous, a sort of it had already been used, by Henry Moses in En- penny dreadful or dime novel of the time, printing glish editions, and Jean-Baptiste­ Muret in French 16 quarto pages on thin paper in two columns with ones. Two further wood engravings, set in match- wood engravings at 20 centimes (quatre sous) per ing passages (p. 24–25), opposed a malignant part. However, his selection included many classi- Mephistopheles, muttering to Martha, to a tender cal authors such as Rabelais, Le Tasse, Jean-Jacques­ Faust, leaning over a petal-­plucking Margaret, his Rousseau, Samuel Richardson or Oliver Goldsmith. arm over her shoulders. A fourfold climax, ending Modern celebrities, whom he contributed to popu-

24 Les Veillées littéraires illustrées. Choix de romans, nouvelles, poésies, pièces de théâtre larize, comprised Walter Scott, Lord Byron, Charles etc., etc., des meilleurs écrivains anciens et modernes. T. I. “Werther” par Goethe. “Poé- sies” de Gilbert Dickens, and even Charles Baudelaire. Goethe had 25 Faust par Wolfgang Goethe, Traduit de l’allemand par Gérard de Nerval, précédé de la légende populaire (Paris: de Johann J. Bry aîné, Faust, 1849). l’un des inventeurs de l’imprimerie, illustré de jolies vignettes par Ed. Frère 23 Goethe Handbuch, Band 4/1, Personen, Sachen, 26 See the comment by Lieven D’Hulst, in Gérard de Nerval, Œuvres complètes, ed. Jean Begriffe A-K­ , ed. Hans-­Dietrich Dahnke & Regine Otto (Stuttgart/Weimar: Verlag J. B. (Paris: J. Bry aîné, 1850). Metzler, Petra 1998), Maisak, 518a. “Illustrationen,” in Guillaume & Claude Pichois, nouvelle édition (Paris: Gallimard, “Bibliothèque de la Pléiade,” 1989), vol. I, 1694–99 and 1930–31. 52 Artl@s Bulletin, Vol. 10, Issue 1 (Spring 2021)

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Figure 1. Umrisse zu Goethe’s Faust gezeichnet von Retsch sic Outlines after Goethe’s Faust drawn by Retzsch Buchhandlung, 1816), plate 6. Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, [ ]Weimar, ( F 3487. ) (Stuttgart und Tübingen: in der J. G. Cotta’schen

Figure 2. Faust par Wolfgang Goethe, Traduit de l’allemand par Gérard de Ner- val, précédé de la légende populaire de Johann Faust, l’un des inventeurs de l’im- primerie, illustré de jolies vignettes par Ed. Frère right- hand column, Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar, F gr 5293. (Paris: J. Bry aîné, 1850), 12,

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Figure 3. Le Faust de Goethe, traduction de Gérard de Nerval, préface de M. Frantz-Jourdain,­ illustrations inédites de Gaston Jourdain Gaston Jourdain, photogravure by J. Chauvet, in (Paris: Imprimé pour la Société de Propagation des Livres d’Art, 1904), insert plate 8, between 60–61. Cliché Bibliothèque nationale de France, Paris.

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Figure 4. Umrisse zu Goethe’s Faust gezeichnet von Retsch sic Outlines after Goethe’s Faust drawn by Retzsch Buchhandlung, 1816), plate 7. Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar, F 3487. [ ] ( ) (Stuttgart und Tübingen: in der J. G. Cotta’schen

with the text (p. 34–35), hammered home Marga- compositions in photogravures (héliogravures) by ret’s suffering (at the spinning wheel, then at mass), and Faust’s torments (killing Valentine, aghast at for private circulation, introduced by Frantz Jour- J. Chauvet are insert plates in a deluxe publication Margaret’s spectre). On the front page, full centre, dain, his architect brother, Art Nouveau theoretician, Faust pledges to a white, phantom-like­ Mephis- and author. An impressive list of noble and literati topheles, also reproduced on the cover. Above it, an subscribers on four pages grants it prestige. The dra- ornate “Veillées littéraires illustrées” header, with matized introduction implicitly styles Gaston’s early two suave ladies nonchalantly reading, promised a death and his toils on Nerval’s tragic fate. The book brighter future to the lowly consumer, for the mod- is once again based on Nerval’s translation28. Accord- icum of 50 centimes27. ing to the preface, both artists are bonded through a common creative idealism and passionate vision.

The iconography opens with a quasi-­erotic scene—a Conversely, the book illustrated by Gaston Jourdain issued after Gaston’s premature death. Jourdain’s shapely female nude in meditative Faust’s dark belongs to fin-de-­ siècle­ book collecting, and was

27 The reader may access a fully digitized version of Faust illustrated by Édouard Frère 28 Le Faust de Goethe, traduction de Gérard de Nerval, in a later edition (1860) on Gallica, of poor quality however, as it is based on a previous préface de M. Frantz-Jourdain,­ illustrations inédites de Gaston Jourdain https://gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/bpt6k692289. Frantz Jourdain, “Préface,” in . (Paris: Imprimé microfilm and not on print, pour la Société de Propagation des Livres d’Art, 1904), i–iv 55 Artl@s Bulletin, Vol. 10, Issue 1 (Spring 2021)

Images in Circulation Stead ­– Extensive and Intensive Iconography

mentioned in his diary and correspondence33. opening plate of Gabriel Max’s 1880 portfolio. In Moreover, it is well known that a play he saw in study—an intensified idea borrowed from the the latter, a body lies concealed under a veil in the London in May–June 1825 under the title The Devil foreground29. Franz Jourdain’s preface stresses and Doctor Faustus (or Faustus: A Romantic Drama how Gaston needed ten years for these composi- in Three Acts), written by George Soane and Daniel

he knew Faust - performed in Drury Lane by James William Wallack tions, commissioned by Paul Gallimard, although Terry, triggered his inspiration. Significantly, it was sume un monceau de documents, de recherches, (Faustus) and Daniel Terry (Mephistophiles, sic in by heart: “Chacun de ses dessins ré de croquis, d’études, d’essais, de tâtonnements qui the play) in costumes—and­ perhaps sets—after l’épuisaient.” “Each drawing summarizes a mound Retzsch34. of documents, research, sketches, studies, attempts, In this case, Retzsch’s album works as an icono- trials and errors that exhausted him.”30. Indeed, the graphic matrix. It inspires numerous scene com- plates read as a compendium of Faustian iconogra- positions and details: the poodle’s twisting tail phy where Retzsch is hailed, yet subject to fantastic in Delacroix’s plate 4, as it lands near Faust and or burlesque treatment and gender reversal. When Wagner in open country, harks back to the trail- the poodle appears in Jourdain’s plate 4, Gaston’s ing strokes of Retzsch’s plate 2. The upper diago- ferocious monster has swollen to extraordinary pro- nal of the Brocken scene, as Mephistopheles and portions, his muzzle revealing terrifying fangs, but Faust ascend the mountain in Delacroix’s plate 14, both the creature and the room’s layout are based is similarly based on Retzsch’s plate 2235. The Ger- on Retzsch’s plate 3. A male sorcerer is swapped for the witch in her kitchen, and a string of frogs hangs layout, to order the characters and their ascent, from the ceiling (Fig. 3), clearly a graphic citation of man artist was first to conceive the composition’s even though there are substantial differences in at- Retzsch’s corresponding plate (Fig. 4). A true compi- mosphere and feeling between Delacroix’s superb lation, this book shows to what extent 19th-­century dark lithographs and Retzsch’s fanciful, energetic, iconography bears on pliable amalgams, at the heart yet thin, outlines. We could compare several other of which Retzsch occupies pride of place. plates too, spotting similarities and distinctive traits, but such an analysis would infringe on the scope of this paper and has to be deferred to a more Intensive Iconography appropriate opportunity. Goethe’s Faust by Delacroix is a major new creation The idea indeed is neither to seek an artist’s source of inspiration nor to discuss creations in terms of in which the young painter-­cum-­lithographer, who imposed on the artist by publisher Charles Motte, would have preferred a portfolio of lithographs31, literature or other arts—as pure originality or the meets the German poet to produce an import- originality. Conception of creation—whether in elaboration of talented genius-­cum-­unique spirit is ant Romantic book. Delacroix knows Retzsch well largely the outcome of a romantic myth, farfetched from 1821, both directly and indirectly. The art- from artistic or literary realities36. Artists and ist’s free-hand­ sketched copies show he had pe- rused Retzsch’s work32. The German artist is also

Nerval plates 12, 13, 16 and 18 from the German edition). 29 See Faust-Illustrationen­ von Gabriel Max, Zehn Zeichnungen, in Holz geschnitten 33 His letter ([Paris]: to Burty Diane (see de noteSelliers 31) éditeur, states he [1997]), had seen 165, Retzsch’s 171, 188, Umrisse 196 (after towards Retzsch’s 1821. von R[ichard] Brend’amour und W. Hecht, Mit einleitendem und erläuterndem Text See also Eugène Delacroix, Journal von Richard Gosche (Berlin: G. Grote’sche Verlagsbuchhandlung, 1880), pl. I, with the vol. I, 120–21, 20th February 1824. caption “Das ist deine Welt! das heißt eine Welt!”, https://goethehaus.museum-­digital 34 See Guinevere Doy, “Delacroix et ,Faust,” ed. Michèle Nouvelles Hannoosh de l’estampe (Paris: 21(mai–juin José Corti, 2009),1975), .de/singleimage.php?imagenr=2882. 30 (my translation). et le théâtre anglais des années 1820,” Nouvelles de l’estampe 87 (juillet 1986), 6–13, 31 Correspon- 18–23, 14 fig. See also Katharine Lochnan, “Les lithographies de Delacroix pour Faust dance Frantz Jourdain, “Préface,” iii 35 Guinevere Doy also makes this comparison, “Delacroix et Faust,” 22. 32 Free- See Delacroix’s­hand copies, explicit pen and letter brown to ink, Philippe sketched Burty, on insheets Eugène of various Delacroix, dimensions, in 1036 fig., on further English theatreThe references Birth of European (mainly Shakespeare) Romanticism. and Truth Delacroix. and Propa - Soirées, ed. chez André Pierret Joubin, 5 vol. (Paris: Plon, 1936–1938), vol. IV (1938), 304. ganda in Stael’s “De l’Allemagne,” 1810–1813 reproduced in Goethe, Faust, illustrations sic Eugène Delacroix, traduction Gérard de 1994), See John 1–2. Claireborne Isbell, , Paris, Musée du Louvre, Cabinet des dessins, RF 10189 to 10251, (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, [ ] 56 Artl@s Bulletin, Vol. 10, Issue 1 (Spring 2021)

Images in Circulation Stead ­– Extensive and Intensive Iconography

Figure. 5. Umrisse zu Goethe’s Faust gezeichnet von Retsch sic Outlines after Goethe’s Faust drawn by Retzsch Buchhandlung, 1816), plate 8. Herzogin Anna Amalia Bibliothek, Weimar, F 3487. [ ] ( ) (Stuttgart und Tübingen: in der J. G. Cotta’schen

writers create their work not only through talent, conception although it is unclear which artist was but also knowledge. Delacroix knew. What is really 37. His outline etch- remarkable in his case is his capacity to extract ing is also closely reminiscent of Gustav Heinrich first in conceiving the scene the dramatic potential from a scene by Retzsch. Naecke’s (or Naeke’s) now lost oil painting Faust Intensive iconography builds on this. One telling and Gretchen before the Cathedral (1811 or 1812), example is the way they both treat an important Retzsch, conceived the scene. They certainly knew unless it was rather Naeke who, influenced by Margaret. each other’s work in Dresden, being friends and fel- Faust scene, the protagonist’s first meeting with low students under the same professors. Naeke’s Exceedingly short in the play, the scene is momen- conception would be further diffused early on, tous in Faustian iconography. Indeed, it brings thanks to lithography and etchings, some of them together the two main characters of Gretchen’s story, setting the tone for what will subsequently 37 See Richard Benz, Goethe und die romantische Kunst, mit vierzig Bildtafeln (München: be developed. Retzsch’s plate 8 (Fig. 5) could it- Die Faustdarstel- self be seen as based on extensive iconography or lung vom 16. Jahrhundert bis zur Gegenwart, mit 90 Abbildungen (Amsterdam: Verlag derR. Piper Erasmus & Co. Buchhandlung, Verlag, 1940), 160–61, “Safaho- 170,­Monographien, 175–76, Wolfgang Band 1,” Wegner, 1962), 55–59, and Viola perhaps setting the rules for such future develop- Hildebrand-­Schat, Zeichnung im Dienste der Literaturvermittlung. Moritz Retzschs Il- lustrationen als Ausdruck bürgerlichen Kulturverstehens (Würzburg: Königshausen & Neumann, “Epistemata, 511,” 2004), 29–30.

ment: it resembles Peter von Cornelius’s analogous 57 Artl@s Bulletin, Vol. 10, Issue 1 (Spring 2021)

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Figure 6. Eugène Delacroix, lithograph, in Faust, tragédie de M. de Goethe, traduite en français par M. Albert Stapfer, Ornée d’un Portrait de l’Auteur, et de dix-­sept dessins com- posés d’après les principales scènes de l’ouvrage et exécu- tés sur pierre par M. Eugène Delacroix Motte, éditeur, Imprimeur-Lithographe,­ et chez Sautelet, (A Paris: Chez Ch.-

libraire, 1828), insert plate between 72–73. Cliché Biblio thèque nationale de France, Paris. coloured38. Under the circumstances, the origi- to Retzsch, Delacroix’s conception however poses the question differently. hardly be pinned down. Ostensibly all three artists nal configuration for such parallel treatment can Retzsch’s outline bears the artist’s distinctive mark were stimulated by Goethe’s scene, whose several (Fig. 5). As Faust approaches Margaret, Retzsch details can easily be conveyed into a picture. In subtly stresses the parallel between Faust in the all three representations, Faust offers his arm to foreground and Mephistopheles in the background ­Margaret—as he does in the play, and she refuses or through identical costumes and corresponding turns away—following Goethe’s verse. Each of the swords. Delacroix projects the analogy in the fore- three renderings however creates a special atmo- ground, partly masking one of the swords under

sphere and builds on variant symbolism. Compared the other on either side of Gretchen (Fig. 6). The Faust’s large cloak while each figure lines up with male bodies become a narrow trap, into which an 38 See Hans Joachim Neidhardt, “Gustav Heinrich Naeke zwischen Nationalromantik und Nazarenertum,” in Gustav Heinrich Naeke (1785–1835), Zeichnungen alluring, disdainful, yet frightened Margaret falls.

Sammlung, n° 13, 2009), 302–03, and catalogue n° 78. , [Konzeption The two partners close in on her in a powerful grip, und Bearbeitung: Stephan Seeliger, Norbert Suhr] (Landesmuseum Mainz: Graphische

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both real and fantastic, in which each is the other’s - double as fascinatingly suggest their strongly sim- Customized copies of his twenty-six­ plates reveal in on Retzsch himself, but on Goethe’s Faust. The aura tentional agency. In most cases, this does not reflect devil, the real embodiment of Mephistopheles’s pertains to the author of a singular text, gradually ilar profiles shown in parallel. Here, Faust turns spectral form, while the contrapuntal movement of canonized and treasured as paragon of heritage. In their legs and feet on the ground builds a metaphor this sense, Retzsch’s outlines, much abused through of the road to destruction. cast out by publishers to pull in clientele: small fry Within extensive and intensive iconography, the copying, are a bait of outline, that is, a fishing line - interaction and reinterpretation of iconographic lications in Frère’s case, they reveal diverse artistic motifs, and circulation of images re-evaluated­ from as well as big fish. Tailored as mass production pub intentions and the combined agency of authorship country to country, involve famous and less con- by its publisher Bry, the French artist, and a Belgian spicuous artists in the comparative process. Illus- wood engraver. The item thus gains further aura, tration studies traditionally privilege exceptional this time for both Goethe and Nerval, his transla- cases but sideline complex cultural objects, such tor, publicizing, with the German author’s approval as mainstream or popular books. By contrast, the and endorsement, his own translation41. In Gaston extensive/intensive concept allows us to address Jourdain’s recycling of details, we perceive an ironic circulation of images in larger corpora and with an interdisciplinary approach. reference-packed­ fin-de-­ siècle­ compendium of also his brother Frantz’s clever intention to paral- culture, reflecting yet again on the play’s aura, but lel Gaston’s and Nerval’s common path for a choice Conclusion audience. Extensive iconography prompts analy- In an article on the recycling of Théodore Géricault’s sis of publishing context, readers’ reactions, public The Raft of the Medusa reproductions, Tom Gretton sensitivity to images, and imaginative processes. It has pointedly opposed the notion of authorship, re- reveals that books and prints are largely cultural lating to intentional agency (individual or collabora- objects, relegating authorship to second position. In tive gestation), to the effect of pictures’ post-­partum considering their circulation, we are led to see those life and their power on the onlooker’s imagination39. dimensions, and can hardly consider copied images What Walter Benjamin names aura in his well-­know in isolation42. essay40 is to be viewed in terms of authorship, spe- In intensive iconography, intention is still manifest but strongly engages with the re-imaginative­ pro- a precise place in space, time, personal career, and cifically individual, which serves to grant artworks cess of different communities. Delacroix’s Faust national history. It also later feeds the competition only acquired aura in the second half of the 20th of nations for cultural recognition within an interna- century, when the artist himself emerged as a major tional arena. However, aura barely resists the mass master. In 1956 Jacqueline Armingeat would refer culture phenomenon and the effectiveness of picto- to it as “a forgotten book”43. This Faust was a com- rial motifs in circulation, particularly when subject mercial failure at the time, for both publishers and artist, dismissed as “un des coryphées de l’école du François Millet’s work gained aura in reproduction to combination, modification, or alteration. Jean-­ laid”44. In Delacroix’s case, historical, artistic, and through his ability to condense images into icons, ideological context is still to be taken into account, emblems or symbols, yet Retzsch’s case is different. if we wish to properly evaluate image circulation.

39 Tom Gretton, “Reincarnation and Reimagination: Some afterlives of Géricault’s Raft of the Medusa from c. 1850 to c. 1905,” Figures de l’art 23 (2013), special issue “L’Im- 41 “Note du traducteur,” in Faust par Wolfgang Goethe 40 Walter Benjamin, “Das Kunstwerk im Zeitalter seiner technischen Reproduzier- 42 Further on this approach, see Evanghelia Stead, ed., Reading Books and Prints as barkeit,”age recyclée,” (1935), ed. Georgestrans. “The Roque Work & Luciano of Art inCheles, the Age 77–94. of Mechanical Reproduction,” Cultural Objects (Paris: J. Bry aîné, 1850), 35–36. in Illuminations, ed. Hannah Arendt, trans. Harry Zohn (New York: Schocken Books, 43 See Jacqueline Armingeat, “Un livre oublié,” L’Œil 12 (Noël 1955), 54–58. 1969), 217–51. 44 Delacroix’s letter (Cham: to Burty Palgrave/Macmillan, (see note 31), 304. “New Directions in Book History,” 2018).

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