GOETHE, JOHANN WOLFGANG VON. 1749-1832.
Autograph Quatrain, oblong 8vo, n.p., [January 30, 1814?], mild toning, with manuscript authentication and history by Edmund Kräuter on the verso.
Provenance: Sotheby's, May 9, 1985, lot 302.
"Vorüber führt ein herrliches Geschick
Erhabne Helden, hochverehrte Frauen;
Nun fesselt uns des heut'gen Tages Glück,
Als Bleibende dich unter uns zu schauen."
GOETHE'S VERSE CELEBRATING THE BIRTHDAY OF THE GRAND DUCHESS LOUISE, wife of his patron, Carl August of Saxe-Weimar. It is published in the Gedenkausgabe I:676 and dated 1814 though other sources date it to 1818 or 1812. Edmund Kräuter was the son of Goethe's private secretary, Theodor Kräuter.