Ideal and History. Johann Wolfgang Goethe's Collection of Prints and Drawings

Abstract

During his life, Goethe collected about 11,500 prints and drawings which spanned all epochs. Not limited to works by his favourite artists, his collection is remarkable for its wide scope. Goethe's practices of collecting show striking similarities to his methods of research in the field of natural science. This article proposes that these methods enabled him to define a general concept of art which exists beyond the individual, thus historically based works.