Mephistopheles Flying, from Faust

Art Institute of Chicago

Mephistopheles Flying, from Faust

Eugène Delacroix

Date
1828
Medium
Lithograph in black on white wove paper
Culture
France
Department
Prints and Drawings
Institution
Art Institute of Chicago

This nightime scene depicts the demon Mephistopheles flying above a cityscape. The stark contrasts of light and dark emphasize his ghoulish form, accentuated with sharp claws and toenails. This lithograph is the prologue to Eugène Delacroix’s series illustrating key episodes from Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s drama Faust . An ambitious German scholar, Faust makes a deal with Mephistopheles to gain fame and fortune but, in return, Faust loses his soul and morality.

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