"A Visit to The Woman of The Lime Trees" after Charles Reuben Ryley (1752? –1798)

"A Visit to The Woman of The Lime Trees"
(Goethe's "Sorrows of Young Werther")
after Charles Reuben Ryley (1752? –1798)
Engraved by Thomas Ryder (1746-1810)
Etching and stipple engraving printed in colours
Published 1786 by Simon Watts, London (fl. 1767-1787)
Framed 

Measures:-
29.2 cm x 20.9 cm

Oval image of a fashionanly dressed man being greeted at a cottage door by a young woman and child. Lettered beneath "C.R. Riley Pinxt." and "T. Ryder Sculpt." to the margins of the oval. Entitled beneath the image "A visit to the woman of the lime trees." with the text "The oldest boy ran to meet me; he screamed for Joy and that brought out his Mother", "Sorrows of Werter." and the publication details "London Publish'd as the Act directs 1st Jany 1786 by S. Watts No.50 opposite Old Round Court, Strand".

Charles Reuben Ryley (1752? –1798) produced various works inspired by Goethe's "Sorrows of Young Werther". The original painting for "A visit to the woman of the lime trees" was exhibited as Item 89 in the Royal Academy exhibition of 1786 (the Eithteenth R.A. show), along with his painting "The Last Interview between Charlotte and Werter" (which appeared as Item 75). The 'lime tree' or 'linden' was symbolic in many European cultures and is referenced throughout Goethe's "Sorrows of Young Werther". The character of Charlotte, whose unrequited love for Werter drives the Goethe's narrative, lives beside a linden tree and the hero is buried beneath one following the climax of the novel.

See BM 1868,0808.2972