Johann Wolfgang von Goethe

Inscriptions

Inscribed, on verso, in brown ink: J.W.G. / 1787; collection stamp on reverse: Lugt 788b

Label

The collector’s mark on the back of this drawing identifies Ludwig Pollak (1868–1943) as a previous owner. Pollack, a classical archaeologist, antiquities dealer, and director of Museo Barracco di Scultura Antica in Rome, was deported to Auschwitz in 1943. At this deportation, the Italian government seized and sold his collection of over 3,000 drawings. Archives document that Pollak’s collection relating to Goethe, presumably including this drawing, was auctioned to Italian book dealer C. E. Rappaport in the early 1940s. Meyer Schweitzer gifted this drawing to Dartmouth in 1964, although where he acquired it remains unknown. Part of Pollak’s collection was restituted to his sole surviving heir in 1957, who donated it to the city of Rome. As this heir and all of Pollak’s direct descendants are now deceased, restitution is quite complex, raising ethical questions about how to best steward his remaining works.

Provenance: Dr. Ludwig Pollak (1868–1943), Rome; [Marthe] Alice (1915–2004) and M. R. [Meyer (Mac) R.] Schweitzer (1911–2006), New York; 1964; given to present collection, 1964.

From the 2025 exhibition A Space for Dialogue 126, Hidden Histories: Art, Provenance, and the Nazi Era, curated by Sadie Weil '25, Mellon Special Project Intern

Course History

ARTH 82, History of Museums and Collecting, Joy Kenseth, Spring 2012

ARTH 83, History of Museums and Collecting, Joy Kenseth, Spring 2015

German 10.06, A Visual History of Germany, Heidi Denzel, Winter 2024

German 3.02, Introductory German (cont.), Heidi Denzel, Spring 2024

German 64.01, After Nazism: German Ruins, Yuliya Komska, Fall 2025

Exhibition History

A Space for Dialogue 126, Hidden Histories: Art, Provenance, and the Nazi Era, Sadie Weil '25, Mellon Special Project Intern, Alvin P. Gutman Gallery, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, September 13 - November 2, 2025.

Portraits at Dartmouth, Jaffe-Friede Gallery, Hopkins Center Art Galleries, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire, March 10-April 16, 1978.

Publication History

Arthur R. Blumenthal, Portraits at Dartmouth, Hanover, New Hampshire: Trustees of Dartmouth Collection, 1978, no.33, p.43

Provenance

Dr. Ludwig Pollak (1868-1943), Rome; [Marthe] Alice (1915-2004) and M. R. [Meyer (Mac) R.] Schweitzer (1911-2006), New York; 1964; given to present collection, 1964.

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