Room 7
"I too in Arcadia"
Jakob Philipp Hackert: Arcadian River Landscape, 1775
This is the epigraph with which Goethe prefaces the first edition of his "Italian Journey" in 1816. He writes of reaching new heights of physical and emotional well-being, and admits that he was never again so happy as he was in 1786/88 during his stay in Italy; he equates it with Arcadia, the longed-for land of the ancient world and poetic incarnation of transitory happiness.
Angelika Kauffmann:
Maddalena Riggi, 1795
It is here that Goethe becomes a Classical poet, enjoying nature and art, rural life and love, and turning it into a complete cultural experiencet.
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