Masterpiece of the Week: “A Scene From Goethe’s Faust,” by Edward Corbould, 1852

Scene from Goethe's Faust
Edward Corbould, 1852
The Royal Collection

In 1852, Queen Victoria and Prince Albert went to see a production of the Goethe play, Faust, and immensely enjoyed the play. Queen Victoria was particularly impressed by the appearance of Mephistopheles whom she described in her diary as being, “quite horrid to look at.”


So struck by the performance were the queen and prince, that Victoria commissioned celebrated painter Edward Corbould to create a painting which captured the very moment that the Devil appeared to Faust in his laboratory. She gave the painting to Prince Albert as a souvenir of a wonderful evening shared at the theater.