The Casa di Goethe is a museum in

Rome , established_title = Founded , established_date = 753 BC , founder = King Romulus (legendary) , image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg , map_caption ...

, in

Via del Corso The Via del Corso is a main street in the historical centre of Rome. It is straight in an area otherwise characterized by narrow meandering alleys and small piazzas. Considered a wide street in ancient times, the Corso is approximately 10 metres w ...

18, dedicated to

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German poet, playwright, novelist, scientist, statesman, theatre director, and critic. His works include plays, poetry, literature, and aesthetic criticism, as well as t ...

, his

Italian Journey ''Italian Journey'' (in the German original: ) is Johann Wolfgang von Goethe's report on his travels to Italy from 1786 to 1788 that was published in 1816 & 1817. The book is based on Goethe's diaries and is smoothed in style, lacks the spont ...

and his life at Rome in the years from 1786 through 1788. During his journey Goethe wrote a journal and also many letters which would be published in 1816-17 as the ''

''.

Description and history

The museum is located in the house and in the same rooms in which Goethe lived with his friend the German painter

Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, known as the ''Goethe Tischbein'' (15 February 1751 in Haina – 26 February 1829 in Eutin), was a German painter from the Tischbein family of artists. Biography Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein was born on ...

during his stay in Rome from October 1786 until February 1787 when they travelled together to

Naples Naples (; it, Napoli ; nap, Napule ), from grc, Νεάπολις, Neápolis, lit=new city. is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 909,048 within the city's adminis ...

and Goethe went on to

Sicily (man) it, Siciliana (woman) , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = Ethnicity , demographics1_footnotes = , demographi ...

, and again from June 1787 until April 1788. Tischbein shared the house with other German and Swiss painters,

Friedrich Bury Friedrich (Fritz) Bury (12 March 1763 – 18 May 1823) was a German artist born in Hanau. He studied first under his father Jean Jacques Bury, who was a goldsmith and professor in the Academy of Design in Hanau, and then with Johann Heinrich Wi ...

, Johann Heinrich Meyer,

Johann Heinrich Lips Johann Heinrich Lips (29 April 1758, in Kloten – 5 May 1817, in Zürich) was a Swiss copper engraver; mostly of portraits. Biography His father was the village surgeon and barber. His Latin teacher, the local pastor, introduced him to Johann ...

and Johann Georg Schütz. Other artists who lived in Rome and frequently visited Goethe here were painters Angelica Kauffman, her husband

Antonio Zucchi Antonio Pietro Francesco Zucchi (1 May 1726 – 1 December 1795) was an Italian painter and printmaker of the Neoclassic period. Life Zucchi was born in Venice, he studied under his uncle Carlo Zucchi and later Francesco Fontebasso and Jacopo ...

and

Johann Friedrich Reiffenstein * Johann Friedrich ReiffensteinAlso spelled Reifstein and Reffenstein(born 22 November 1719, Ragnit, – died 6 October 1793, Rome) was a German cicerone for grand tour The Grand Tour was the principally 17th- to early 19th-century custom of a ...

as well as the writer

Karl Philipp Moritz Karl Philipp Moritz ( Hameln, 15 September 1756 – Berlin, 26 June 1793) was a German author, editor and essayist of the ''Sturm und Drang'', late Enlightenment, and classicist periods, influencing early German Romanticism as well. He led a ...

. When Tischbein finally moved to Naples in the summer of 1787, Goethe moved into his spacious painting studio for the rest of his stay. He continued to study the ancient and Renaissance art of Rome and tried his hand at draftsmanship, painting and sculpting. He also continued to work on his theater play ''

Iphigenia in Tauris ''Iphigenia in Tauris'' ( grc, Ἰφιγένεια ἐν Ταύροις, ''Iphigeneia en Taurois'') is a drama by the playwright Euripides, written between 414 BC and 412 BC. It has much in common with another of Euripides's plays, '' Helen'', as ...

'' (which he finished here), furthermore resumed his work on ''

Torquato Tasso Torquato Tasso ( , also , ; 11 March 154425 April 1595) was an Italian poet of the 16th century, known for his 1591 poem ''Gerusalemme liberata'' ( Jerusalem Delivered), in which he depicts a highly imaginative version of the combats between ...

'', '' Egmont'' and ''

Faust Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend based on the historical Johann Georg Faust ( 1480–1540). The erudite Faust is highly successful yet dissatisfied with his life, which leads him to make a pact with the Devil at a crossroa ...

''.

Exhibition

The permanent exhibition covers his life in Italy, his work and writing, and also about his private life and shows original documents concerning his life. The second exhibition, which is always a temporary exhibition, often refers to arguments and themes which connect somehow the Italian and German cultures or talks about artists like

Max Beckmann Max Carl Friedrich Beckmann (February 12, 1884 – December 27, 1950) was a German painter, draftsman, printmaker, sculptor, and writer. Although he is classified as an Expressionist artist, he rejected both the term and the movement. In the 1920s ...

Heinrich Mann Luiz Heinrich Mann (; 27 March 1871 – 11 March 1950), best known as simply Heinrich Mann, was a German author known for his socio-political novels. From 1930 until 1933, he was president of the fine poetry division of the Prussian Academy ...

and

Thomas Mann Paul Thomas Mann ( , ; ; 6 June 1875 – 12 August 1955) was a German novelist, short story writer, social critic, philanthropist, essayist, and the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature laureate. His highly symbolic and ironic epic novels and novell ...

, Andreu Alfaro, Günter Grass and

Johann Gottfried Schadow Johann Gottfried Schadow (20 May 1764 – 27 January 1850) was a German Prussian sculptor. His most iconic work is the chariot on top of the Brandenburg Gate in Berlin, executed in 1793 when he was still only 29. Biography Schadow was born i ...

and their experiences in Italy as well as their examinations of Goethe. The museum owns a library, which includes also the collection of Richard W. Dorn. The Casa di Goethe, opened in 1997 and is administrated by the Association of Independent Cultural Institutes (AsKI) and directed by Ursula Bongaerts.'' The Casa di Goethe in Rome,'' edited by Ursula Bongaerts, 2004, Casa di Goethe, Rome

References

External links

Website Casa di Goethe
* * {{Authority control Museums in Rome Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Rome R. IV Campo Marzio