010   Carl Gustav Carus "Evening twilight. On Goethe's Faust". 1837.

Carl Gustav Carus 1789 Leipzig – 1869 Dresden
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1749 Frankfurt am Main – 1832 Weimar
Johann Gottlob Regis 1791 Leipzig – 1854 Breslau

Oil on canvas. Faintly legible signed and dated "CARVS 1837" in black within the stone plate in the lower right ...
corner.
On the reverse inscribed "Leuboldt" in pencil on the stretcher frame.
Framed in the original, moulded frame, with gold-coloured varnish over hammered metal and silver overlay.
Catalogue raisonné Prause 99, without dimensions and with the date "1836/37".

Provenance: Thuringian private property, estate of Hildegard Junkemann (1926 Naumburg – 2021 Weimar), probably estate of Karl Gustav Nicolai (1860 Jena -1938 Weimar), director of the Grossherzogliche Landeskreditkasse Weimar.
Exhibited in: Annual exhibition of the Königlich Sächsische Akademie der Künste, 1837, cat. no. 144, described as "Own composition, oil".

Permission of export according to the Cultural Property Protection Act (KGSG) has been granted.


"[...] but recently [...] a Faust appeared to me [...] which I lined out" Carl Gustav Carus refers to this painting in a letter to Johann Gottlob Regis in November 1836. Following, it will be exhibited at the annual exhibition of the Royal Saxon Academy of Arts in Dresden as "Evening twilight. On Goethe's Faust" in July 1837.

The discovery of a third important painting by Carus on the "Faust” theme, so far unknown by depiction and dimensions, complements our understanding on Carl Gustav Carus' reception of Goethe's tragedy.
In 1816, the "Umrisse zu Faust" by Moritz Retzsch were edited and enthusiastically received in Dresden. Carus first developed the crucial Faust motif of the "Easter Walk" in an oil painting in 1821 (Museum Folkwang, Essen, inv. no. G 24). Immediately thereafter, the painting "Faust im Gebirge" evolved (Galerie Neue Meister, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, gal. no. 2215 F).
In his memoirs, Carus recorded the strong impression the première of "Faust" in Dresden in 1829 left on him. In 1835, he published an essayistic approach to both volumes of "Faust” as a collection of his "Letters on Göthe's Faust" to Johann Gottlob Regis.
Between 1852 and 1860 – Carus had by then focused on drawing – he dedicated a series of six large charcoal drawings on the "Faust” tale (Kupferstich-Kabinett, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, inv. no. C 1963–14 – C 1963–40).
The rediscovered painting is an extraordinarily distinctive pictorial document on Carus repeated dedication to Goethe’s tragedy.
The rare fortune of Carus' written documentation of the early work process of the painting, the very detailed master drawing of his composition, combines with an unusually well legible infrared visualization, allowing an impressive experience of this additional artistic layer. > Read more

Originale Aufspannung. Leinwand leicht wellig, kleiner Einriss am unteren Bildrand. Drei kleine Löchlein an den Spannrändern.
Malschicht frühschwundrissig und mit leichter Klimakante. In den hellen Brauntönen der Bildmitte partiell leicht berieben. Teile eines frühen Firnis am unteren Bildrand und im Bereich der Signatur erhalten. Der vorhandene Firnis partiell matt. Zentral eine oberflächliche Kratzspur.
Die dunklen Bildpartien alterungsbedingt verbräunt.
Der Rahmen mit Fehlstellen an den Konstruktionsfugen.

50,2 x 40,4 cm, Ra. 57,3 x 47,4 cm.