Ottilie von Goethe | Two autograph letters signed, to the sculptor Ernst Rietschel, mid C19th

Ottilie von Goethe

Two autograph letters signed ("Ottilie v Goethe"), to the sculptor Ernst Rietschel

concerning her elder son [Walther Wolfgang von Goethe] and a story about his album, referring to her health and her swollen foot, mentioning Savigny, hoping to see him before her departure and asking if she might bring a cousin of hers, Frau Schmeling, with her when they meet

...Vor mehreren Jahren als mein ältester Sohn...noch ein Knabe war, brachte er einige Tage hier zu, und da in dieser Zeit gerade sein Geburtstag war so schenkte ihm eine Freundin von uns...ein Stammbuch...

5 pages in all, 8vo (20.9 x 13.2cm), one letter with autograph address panel, remains of red wax seal and seal tear to one letter, with a manuscript note referring to the letters in the hand of Ernst Rudorff, no place or date, c. mid C19th, a few small stains to one letter

The distinguished recipient here of Ottilie von Goethe's letters was the German sculptor Ernst Rietschel (1804-1861), among whose many notable creations was the 1857 bronze double statue of Goethe and Schiller at Weimar.