Goethe-Gallery

Italy

“My first love in Rome” is how Goethe referred to the head of the goddess Juno, which he purchased shortly after his arrival in Rome and displayed in the apartment on the Corso. A sketch by Tischbein shows Goethe, straightening up the room, in front of the bust. The original could be found in the Villa Ludovisi and today is believed to be a portrait of Antonia Minor, the daughter of Marcus Antonius. The acquisition of the Juno, which delighted Goethe “like a song of Homer’s”, attests to his feeling of being in the right place and living entirely in the present moment.