Die Titelkupfer der Leipziger und Dresdner Künstler Peter Carl Geissler und Gustav Heinrich Naeke sowie Johannes Thomas und Friedrich Wagner zu Goethes Ausgabe letzter Hand

ABSTRACT This contribution examines a selection of engravings in the parallel edition of frontispieces to Goethe’s last edition of his collected works, published in Leipzig by Fleischer (1829–34). Select engravings, based on the five designs by an independent painter and popular illustrator, Peter Carl Geissler, are juxtaposed with those by Gustav Heinrich Nae[c]ke, who was professor of painting at the Saxon Academy. Striking differences in style and the choice of subjects become apparent. Two special cases in the collection round out the analysis: the portrait of Cellini after Vasari, probably by the Nuremberg painter Friedrich Wagner; the Frankfurt painter Johannes Thomas provided the only design with a detailed representation of urban architecture in the collection.