The First Interview of Werther and Charlotte

The First Interview of Werther and Charlotte

John Raphael Smith

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

In this subject from "The Sorrows of the Young Werther," the hero encounters Charlotte caring for younger siblings after they have lost their mother. Goethe's epistolary novel centers on their ensuing tragic love story. Published in Leipzig in 1774, the text appeared in English in 1779 and is considered a key early Romantic text.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

The First Interview of Werther and CharlotteThe First Interview of Werther and CharlotteThe First Interview of Werther and CharlotteThe First Interview of Werther and CharlotteThe First Interview of Werther and Charlotte

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.