The Wounded Goetz von Berlichingen Takes Refuge in a Gypsy Camp

The Wounded Goetz von Berlichingen Takes Refuge in a Gypsy Camp

Eugène Delacroix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Delacroix was fascinated by Goethe’s "Goetz von Berlichingen," the tale of a late medieval knight (translated into French in 1823). In an 1827 sketchbook he listed seven possible subjects based on the story, including "Goetz arrives wounded on his horse among the gypsies." This loose wash drawing is the only known compositional study for the lithograph he produced of the scene. Delacroix worked on the series intermittently from 1836 to 1843, eventually completing seven designs, but never published the lithographs as a suite.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The Wounded Goetz von Berlichingen Takes Refuge in a Gypsy CampThe Wounded Goetz von Berlichingen Takes Refuge in a Gypsy CampThe Wounded Goetz von Berlichingen Takes Refuge in a Gypsy CampThe Wounded Goetz von Berlichingen Takes Refuge in a Gypsy CampThe Wounded Goetz von Berlichingen Takes Refuge in a Gypsy Camp

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.