The First Interview of Werther and Charlotte
Original title: The First Interview of Werther and Charlotte
kurzbeschreibung
On 16 October 1782, John Raphael Smith completed this print, titled The First Interview of Werther and Charlotte. It takes up an encounter from Goethe's novel The Sorrows of Young Werther. The work is a stipple engraving combined with etching, finished with hand-coloring.
Description
In the foreground sits a woman in a white dress, a veil and a red ribbon at her waist; on her lap she holds a child and turns toward a kneeling child. A man in a dark suit with a cravat stands to the side, carrying a child in his arms and looking toward her. Behind the group, more children can be seen at a table with a book, surrounded by trees and a cloudy sky. The palette remains restrained, and the style points to the eighteenth century.
Context
The making of this print falls in 1782, only a few years after the appearance of Goethe's epistolary novel The Sorrows of Young Werther (1774), which caused a sensation across Europe. John Raphael Smith was a renowned British engraver and painter who had turned to reproductive printmaking. The subject takes up a central episode of the novel: Werther's first meeting with Charlotte while she is caring for her siblings.
Impact
The calm arrangement and muted colors give the image an idyllic yet sentimental mood. The familiar gesture between Werther and Charlotte, along with the children included, create an atmosphere of domesticity and quiet affection.
Technique
For this sheet Smith chose stipple engraving, in which fine dots create the tonal values, and combined it with etching. Hand-coloring followed, adding color accents to the print and giving it a painterly effect.
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Source: Metropolitan Museum of Art · Public Domain (CC0 1.0)