1.
1795 in art
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Events from the year 1795 in art. Nicolas-Jacques Conté patents the modern pencil lead in France and produces the first Conté sticks, william Blakes monotypes Nebuchadnezzar, Newton, The Night of Enitharmons Joy and Pity. Giuseppe Ceracchis marble portrait bust of George Washington Philip James de Loutherbourgs painting Lord Howes action, françois-Xavier Fabres Portrait of Lord Holland. François Gérards portrait of fellow-artist Jean-Baptiste Isabey with his daughter and his painting Bélisaire, francisco Goyas Self-portrait in the studio. Guillaume Guillon-Lethières painting The Death of Cato of Utica John Hoppners Portrait of the Frankland sisters
2.
Samuel Taylor Coleridge
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Samuel Taylor Coleridge was an English poet, literary critic and philosopher who, with his friend William Wordsworth, was a founder of the Romantic Movement in England and a member of the Lake Poets. He wrote the poems The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and Kubla Khan and his critical work, especially on William Shakespeare, was highly influential, and he helped introduce German idealist philosophy to English-speaking culture. Coleridge coined many words and phrases, including suspension of disbelief. He was an influence on Ralph Waldo Emerson and American transcendentalism. Throughout his adult life Coleridge had crippling bouts of anxiety and depression, it has been speculated that he had bipolar disorder and he was physically unhealthy, which may have stemmed from a bout of rheumatic fever and other childhood illnesses. He was treated for these conditions with laudanum, which fostered a lifelong opium addiction, Coleridge was born on 21 October 1772 in the town of Ottery St Mary in Devon, England. He had previously been Master of Hugh Squiers School in South Molton, Devon, John Coleridge had three children by his first wife. Samuel was the youngest of ten by the Reverend Mr. Coleridges second wife, Anne Bowden, probably the daughter of John Bowden, Mayor of South Molton, Devon, Coleridge suggests that he took no pleasure in boyish sports but instead read incessantly and played by himself. At that school Coleridge became friends with Charles Lamb, a schoolmate, in fancy I can almost hear him now, exclaiming Harp. Pen and ink, boy, you mean, oh aye. the cloister-pump, I suppose. Be this as it may, there was one custom of our masters and he would often permit our theme exercises. To accumulate, till each lad had four or five to be looked over, throughout his life, Coleridge idealised his father as pious and innocent, while his relationship with his mother was more problematic. His childhood was characterised by attention seeking, which has linked to his dependent personality as an adult. He was rarely allowed to return home during the term. He later wrote of his loneliness at school in the poem Frost at Midnight, With unclosed lids, from 1791 until 1794, Coleridge attended Jesus College, Cambridge. In 1792, he won the Browne Gold Medal for an ode that he wrote on the slave trade, afterwards, he was rumoured to have had a bout of severe depression. His brothers arranged for his discharge a few months later under the reason of insanity and he was readmitted to Jesus College, at Jesus College, Coleridge was introduced to political and theological ideas then considered radical, including those of the poet Robert Southey. Coleridge joined Southey in a plan, soon abandoned, to found a utopian society, called Pantisocracy
3.
Robert Southey
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Robert Southey was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the so-called Lake Poets, and Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 until his death in 1843. Although his fame has long been eclipsed by that of his contemporaries and friends William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, Southey was also a prolific letter writer, literary scholar, essay writer, historian and biographer. His biographies include the life and works of John Bunyan, John Wesley, William Cowper, Oliver Cromwell, the last has rarely been out of print since its publication in 1813 and was adapted for the screen in the 1926 British film, Nelson. He also wrote on issues, which led to a brief, non-sitting. Robert Southey was born in Wine Street, Bristol, to Robert Southey and he was educated at Westminster School, London, and Balliol College, Oxford. Southey later said of Oxford, All I learnt was a little swimming, experimenting with a writing partnership with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, most notably in their joint composition of The Fall of Robespierre, Southey published his first collection of poems in 1794. Each young man should take to himself a mild and lovely woman for his wife, it would be her part to prepare their innocent food, and tend their hardy and beautiful race. Southey was the first to reject the idea as unworkable, suggesting that they move the location to Wales. In 1799 Southey and Coleridge were involved with experiments with nitrous oxide. Southey married Edith Fricker at St. Mary Redcliffe, Bristol and she was a sister of Sara Fricker, Coleridges wife. The Southeys made their home at Greta Hall, Keswick, in the Lake District, also living at Greta Hall and supported by him were Sara Coleridge and her three children, after Coleridge abandoned them, as well as the widow of poet Robert Lovell and her son. In 1808 Southey met Walter Savage Landor, whose work he admired and that same year he wrote Letters from England under the pseudonym Don Manuel Alvarez Espriella, an account of a tour supposedly from a foreigners viewpoint. From 1809 Southey contributed to the Quarterly Review and he had become so well known by 1813 that he was appointed Poet Laureate after Walter Scott refused the post. In 1819, through a friend, Southey met the leading civil engineer Thomas Telford. From mid-August to 1 October 1819, Southey accompanied Telford on an tour of his engineering projects in the Scottish Highlands. This was published in 1929 as Journal of a Tour in Scotland in 1819 and he was also a friend of the Dutch poet Willem Bilderdijk, whom he met twice, in 1824 and 1826, at Bilderdijks home in Leiden. In 1837 Southey received a letter from Charlotte Brontë, seeking his advice on some of her poems and he wrote back praising her talents, but also discouraging her from writing professionally. He said Literature cannot be the business of a womans life, years later, Brontë remarked to a friend that the letter was kind and admirable, a little stringent, but it did me good
4.
Catherine the Great
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Catherine II of Russia, also known as Catherine the Great, was a Russian monarch. She was the female leader of Russia, reigning from 1762 until her death in 1796 at the age of 67. She came to following a coup détat when her husband. Russia was revitalised under her reign, growing larger and stronger than ever, in both her accession to power and in rule of her empire, Catherine often relied on her noble favourites, most notably Grigory Orlov and Grigory Potemkin. In the west, the Polish–Lithuanian Commonwealth, ruled by Catherines former lover, king Stanisław August Poniatowski, was eventually partitioned, in the east, Russia started to colonise Alaska, establishing Russian America. Catherine reformed the administration of Russian guberniyas, and many new cities, an admirer of Peter the Great, Catherine continued to modernise Russia along Western European lines. However, military conscription and the continued to depend on serfdom. This was one of the reasons behind several rebellions, including the large-scale Pugachevs Rebellion of cossacks. The period of Catherine the Greats rule, the Catherinian Era, is considered the Golden Age of the Russian Empire. The Manifesto on Freedom of the Nobility, issued during the reign of Peter III and confirmed by Catherine. Construction of many mansions of the nobility, in the classical style endorsed by the Empress and she enthusiastically supported the ideals of The Enlightenment, thus earning the status of an enlightened despot. Catherine was born in Stettin, Pomerania, Kingdom of Prussia as Princess Sophie Friederike Auguste von Anhalt-Zerbst-Dornburg, she was nicknamed Figchen. Her father, Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst, belonged to the ruling German family of Anhalt, two of her first cousins became Kings of Sweden, Gustav III and Charles XIII. In accordance with the then prevailing in the ruling dynasties of Germany, she received her education chiefly from a French governess. She once wrote to her correspondent Baron Grimm, I see nothing of interest in it, although Catherine was born a princess, her family had very little money. Catherines rise to power was supported by her mothers relatives who were both wealthy nobles and royal relations. Catherine first met Peter III at the age of 10, based on her writings, she found Peter detestable upon meeting him. She disliked his pale complexion and his fondness for alcohol at such a young age, Peter also still played with toy soldiers
5.
National Library of Russia
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The National Library of Russia in St Petersburg, is not only the oldest public library in the nation, but also the first national library in the country. The NLR is currently ranked among the major libraries. It has the second richest library collection in the Russian Federation, a treasury of national heritage, over the course of its history, the Library has aimed for comprehensive acquisition of the national printed output and has provided free access to its collections. It should not be confused with the Russian State Library, located in Moscow, the Imperial Public Library was established in 1795 by Catherine the Great. It was based on the Załuski Library, the famous Polish national library built by Bishop Zalusky in Warsaw, the idea of a public library in Russia emerged in the early 18th century but did not take shape until the arrival of the Russian Enlightenment. The plan of a Russian public library was submitted to Catherine in 1766 but the Empress did not approve the project for the library until 27 May 1795. A site for the building was found at the corner of Nevsky Avenue and Sadovaya Street, the construction work began immediately and lasted for almost fifteen years. The building was designed in a Neoclassical style by architect Yegor Sokolov, the Polish-language books from the library were returned to Poland by the Russian SFSR in 1921. For five years after its foundation, the library was run by Comte Marie-Gabriel-Florent-Auguste de Choiseul-Gouffier, the stocks were arranged according to a specially compiled manual of library classification. In 1810, Emperor Alexander I approved Russia’s first library law stipulating, among other things, the Library was to be opened for the public in 1812 but, as the more valuable collections had to be evacuated because of Napoleon’s invasion, the inauguration was postponed for two years. Under Count Alexander Stroganov, who managed the library during the first decade of the 19th century, the Rossica project was inaugurated, the Imperial Public Library was inaugurated on 14 January 1814 in the presence of Gavrila Derzhavin and Ivan Krylov. The librarys third, and arguably most famous, director was Aleksey Olenin and his 32-year tenure at the helm, with Sergey Uvarov serving as his deputy, raised the profile of the library among Russian intellectuals. Librarianship progressed to a new level in the 1850s, the reader community grew several times, enlarged by common people. At the same time, many gifts of books were offered to the library, consequently, collection growth rates in the 1850s were five times higher than the annual growth rate of five thousand new acquired during the first part of the century. In 1859, Vasily Sobolshchikov prepared for the library the first national manual of library science entitled Public Library Facilities, by 1864, the Public Library held almost 90 per cent of all Russian printed output. The influx of new visitors required a larger reading room in the new building closing the court along the perimeter. An avalanche-like growth of attendance persisted in the part of the 19th century. Library cards and attendance grew tenfold between 1860 and 1913, the public principle triumphed when the class barriers maintained until the mid-19th century were abolished and the petty bourgeois, peasants and even women were often seen among the visitors
6.
Warsaw
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Warsaw is the capital and largest city of Poland. It stands on the Vistula River in east-central Poland, roughly 260 kilometres from the Baltic Sea and 300 kilometres from the Carpathian Mountains. Its population is estimated at 1.750 million residents within a metropolitan area of 3.101 million residents. The city limits cover 516.9 square kilometres, while the area covers 6,100.43 square kilometres. Once described as Paris of the East, Warsaw was believed to be one of the most beautiful cities in the world until World War II. On 9 November 1939, the city was awarded Polands highest military decoration for heroism, Warsaw is one of Europe’s most dynamic metropolitan cities. In 2012 the Economist Intelligence Unit ranked Warsaw as the 32nd most liveable city in the world, in 2017 the city came 4th in the “Business-friendly” category and 8th in the “Human capital and life style”. It was also ranked as one of the most liveable cities in Central, Warsaw is considered an Alpha– global city, a major international tourist destination and a significant cultural, political and economic hub. The city is a significant centre of research and development, BPO, ITO, the Warsaw Stock Exchange is the largest and most important in Central and Eastern Europe. Frontex, the European Union agency for external security, has its headquarters in Warsaw. Together with Frankfurt, London and Paris, Warsaw is also one of the cities with the highest number of skyscrapers in the European Union, the city is the seat of the Polish Academy of Sciences, Warsaw National Philharmonic Orchestra and the University of Warsaw. The historic city-centre of Warsaw with its picturesque Old Town in 1980 was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, buildings represent examples of nearly every European architectural style and historical period. Warsaw provides many examples of architecture from the gothic, renaissance, baroque, neoclassical and modern periods, furthermore, the city is positioning itself as Europes chic cultural capital with thriving art and club scenes and renowned restaurants. Folk etymology attributes the city name to a fisherman, Wars, according to legend, Sawa was a mermaid living in the Vistula River with whom Wars fell in love. In actuality, Warsz was a 12th/13th-century nobleman who owned a village located at the site of Mariensztat neighbourhood. See also the Vršovci family which had escaped to Poland, the official city name in full is miasto stołeczne Warszawa. A native or resident of Warsaw is known as a Varsovian – in Polish warszawiak, warszawianin, warszawianka, warszawiacy, other names for Warsaw include Varsovia and Varsóvia, Varsovie, Varsavia, Warschau, װאַרשע /Varshe, Варшава /Varšava /Varshava, Varšuva, Varsó. The first fortified settlements on the site of todays Warsaw were located in Bródno, after Jazdów was raided by nearby clans and dukes, a new similar settlement was established on the site of a small fishing village called Warszowa
7.
William Wordsworth
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William Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication Lyrical Ballads. Wordsworths magnum opus is generally considered to be The Prelude, a poem of his early years that he revised and expanded a number of times. It was posthumously titled and published, before which it was known as the poem to Coleridge. Wordsworth was Britains Poet Laureate from 1843 until his death from pleurisy on 23 April 1850 and his sister, the poet and diarist Dorothy Wordsworth, to whom he was close all his life, was born the following year, and the two were baptised together. Wordsworths father was a representative of James Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale and, through his connections. He was frequently away from home on business, so the young William and his siblings had little involvement with him and remained distant from him until his death in 1783. However, he did encourage William in his reading, and in particular set him to commit to memory large portions of verse, including works by Milton, Shakespeare, William was also allowed to use his fathers library. William also spent time at his mothers house in Penrith, Cumberland, where he was exposed to the moors, but did not get along with his grandparents or his uncle. His hostile interactions with them distressed him to the point of contemplating suicide, Wordsworth was taught both the Bible and the Spectator, but little else. It was at the school in Penrith that he met the Hutchinsons, including Mary, after the death of his mother, in 1778, Wordsworths father sent him to Hawkshead Grammar School in Lancashire and sent Dorothy to live with relatives in Yorkshire. She and William did not meet again for nine years. Wordsworth made his debut as a writer in 1787 when he published a sonnet in The European Magazine and that same year he began attending St Johns College, Cambridge. He received his BA degree in 1791 and he returned to Hawkshead for the first two summers of his time at Cambridge, and often spent later holidays on walking tours, visiting places famous for the beauty of their landscape. In 1790 he went on a tour of Europe, during which he toured the Alps extensively, and visited nearby areas of France, Switzerland. In November 1791, Wordsworth visited Revolutionary France and became enchanted with the Republican movement and he fell in love with a French woman, Annette Vallon, who in 1792 gave birth to their daughter Caroline. Financial problems and Britains tense relations with France forced him to return to England alone the following year. The circumstances of his return and his subsequent behaviour raised doubts as to his wish to marry Annette. With the Peace of Amiens again allowing travel to France, in 1802 Wordsworth and his sister Dorothy visited Annette, the purpose of the visit was to prepare Annette for the fact of his forthcoming marriage to Mary Hutchinson
8.
St Mary Redcliffe
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St. Mary Redcliffe is an Anglican parish church located in the Redcliffe district of Bristol, England. The church is a walk from Bristol Temple Meads. The church building was constructed from the 12th to the 15th centuries, the church is renowned for the beauty of its Gothic architecture and is classed as a Grade I listed building by Historic England. It was famously described by Queen Elizabeth I as the fairest, goodliest, little remains of the earliest churches on the site although a little of the fabric has been dated to the 12th century. Much of the current building dates from the late 13th and 14th centuries when it was built and decorated by wealthy merchants of the city whose tomb, the spire fell after being struck by lightning in 1446 and was not rebuilt until 1872. Little of the stained glass remains following damage in the English Civil War with extensive new glass being added during the Victorian era. The tower contains 15 bells designed for full-circle English-Style change ringing, other music in the church is provided by several choirs and the Harrison & Harrison organ. The first church on site was built in Saxon times. In medieval times, St. Mary Redcliffe, sitting on a red cliff above the River Avon, was a sign to seafarers, who would pray in it at their departure, and give thanks there upon their return. The church was built and beautified by Bristols wealthy merchants, who paid to have sung for their souls. Parts of the date from the beginning of the 12th century. The patrons included Simon de Burton, Mayor of Bristol, and William I Canynges, merchant, five times Mayor of Bristol, although the spire was to remain damaged for the next 400 years, Canynges continued in his commitment to restore and beautify the church. He took Holy Orders after the death of his wife, and is buried in the church, other families associated with St Mary Redcliffe include the Penns, the Cabots, the Jays, the Ameryks and the Medes. In 1571, the school that was to become St Mary Redcliffe, the church and school have remained closely linked in many aspects of their operations. The 17th century saw the loss of many of the fittings and much of the stained glass during the Reformation. During the reign of Queen Anne, and partially funded by her, Thomas Chatterton, whose father was sexton of St Mary Redcliffe, was born in the house next to the church in 1752. He studied the records in a room above the south porch. He committed suicide in London at the age of seventeen, in 1795 the church saw the marriages of Samuel Taylor Coleridge to Sara Fricker and Robert Southey to Sarahs sister Elizabeth
9.
Charles Lamb
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Charles Lamb was an English essayist, poet, and antiquarian, best known for his Essays of Elia and for the childrens book Tales from Shakespeare, co-authored with his sister, Mary Lamb. Friends with such luminaries as Samuel Taylor Coleridge, William Wordsworth. He has been referred to by E. V. Lucas, his principal biographer, Lamb was born in London, the son of Elizabeth Field and John Lamb. Lamb was the youngest child, with a sister 11 years older named Mary and an even older brother named John, there were four others who did not survive infancy. His father John Lamb was a clerk and spent most of his professional life as the assistant to a barrister named Samuel Salt. It was there in Crown Office Row that Charles Lamb was born, Lamb created a portrait of his father in his Elia on the Old Benchers under the name Lovel. Lambs older brother was too much his senior to be a companion to the boy but his sister Mary. Lamb was also cared for by his paternal aunt Hetty, who seems to have had a fondness for him. A number of writings by both Charles and Mary suggest that the conflict between Aunt Hetty and her sister-in-law created a degree of tension in the Lamb household. However, Charles speaks fondly of her and her presence in the house seems to have brought a great deal of comfort to him. After the death of Mrs. Plummer, Lambs grandmother was in charge of the large home and, as Mr. Plummer was often absent. A picture of these visits can be glimpsed in the Elia essay Blakesmoor in H—shire, why, every plank and panel of that house for me had magic in it. Little is known about Charless life before he was seven other than that Mary taught him to read at an early age. It is believed that he suffered from smallpox during his early years, after this period of recovery Lamb began to take lessons from Mrs. Reynolds, a woman who lived in the Temple and is believed to have been the former wife of a lawyer. Mrs. E. V. Lucas suggests that sometime in 1781 Charles left Mrs. Reynolds and began to study at the Academy of William Bird. His time with William Bird did not last long, however, because by October 1782 Lamb was enrolled in Christs Hospital, Years later, in his essay Christ’s Hospital Five and Thirty Years Ago, Lamb described these events, speaking of himself in the third person as L. I remember L. at school, and can well recollect that he had some peculiar advantages, which I and other of his schoolfellows had not. His friends lived in town, and were near at hand, and he had the privilege of going to see them, almost as often as he wished, through some invidious distinction, which was denied to us
10.
Ireland Shakespeare forgeries
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Among them were the manuscripts of four plays, two of them previously unknown. Upon the release of the manuscripts, such respected literary figures as James Boswell and poet-laureate Henry James Pye pronounced them genuine, as did various antiquarian experts. Richard Brinsley Sheridan, the theatre manager of his day. Excitement over the biographical and literary significance of the find turned to acrimony, however, William Henry Ireland, the supposed discoverer, then confessed to the fraud. Although Shakespeares works were available in versions both for the learned and for the general public, no satisfactory biography could be constructed. In spite of a search by would-be Shakespeare biographers from Nicholas Rowe to Edmond Malone, only scraps. There was a hope and expectation that some documents would surface to fill the gap. Although he had the satisfaction of being the first to introduce Shakespeares crabtree and Anne Hathaways cottage to the general public and his son William Henry Ireland had a fascination with forgery. He was heavily influenced by the novel Love and Madness by Herbert Croft which contained lengthy passages on the forger Thomas Chatterton, William witnessed his fathers frustration first-hand. One moment, in particular, struck him forcibly, upon visiting however, he was informed by the current tenant that all the old papers—many of them Shakespeares—had recently been burned. Samuel Irelands distress at this news made an impression on the young man—even though it later turned out that this story was a nothing more than a joke at Irelands expense. According to the younger Irelands confessions, it was to please his father that he embarked on the career of literary forgery that would ruin them both. From a chance acquaintance met at a book-binders the young man learned of a technique for simulating the appearance of ancient writing by using a special ink, after a trial run creating a couple of relatively insignificant documents, he set out to devise something with Shakespeares signature. The result was a deed between Shakespeare and his fellow-actor John Heminges on one side, and Michael Fraser and his wife on the other. The text and signature he copied from the facsimile of the genuine 1612 mortgage deed printed in Malones edition of Shakespeare, ripping a seal from another early deed, young Ireland attached it to this concoction and presented the result to his father on 16 December. Samuel Ireland accepted it as authentic, and the day took it to the Heralds Office. Asked where he had turned up this deed, William Henry replied that he had found it in an old trunk belonging to an acquaintance who did not wish to have his name revealed. Mr. H. as he called him, had given him this deed
11.
Jane Austen
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Jane Austen was an English novelist known primarily for her six major novels, which interpret, critique and comment upon the British landed gentry at the end of the 18th century. Austens plots often explore the dependence of women on marriage in the pursuit of social standing. Her works critique the novels of sensibility of the half of the 18th century and are part of the transition to 19th-century literary realism. With the publications of Sense and Sensibility, Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park and Emma and she wrote two additional novels, Northanger Abbey and Persuasion, both published posthumously in 1818, and began another, eventually titled Sanditon, but died before its completion. Her novels have rarely been out of print, although they were published anonymously, a significant transition in her posthumous reputation occurred in 1869, fifty-two years after her death, when her nephews publication of A Memoir of Jane Austen introduced her to a wider audience. Austen has inspired a number of critical essays and literary anthologies. Her novels have inspired many films, from 1940s Pride and Prejudice to more recent productions, Sense and Sensibility, Jane Austens use of biting irony, along with her realism and social commentary have earned her great and historical importance to critics and scholars. The Bank of England has confirmed that the face of the new plastic £10 note will be Austen, the notes are expected to be released in summer 2017. There is little information about Jane Austens life except the few letters that survive. During her lifetime Austen wrote approximately 3,000 letters but only about 160 survive, many of the letters were written to Austens older sister Cassandra, who in 1843 burned the greater part of them and cut pieces out of those she kept. Cassandra believed that in the interest of tact and Janes penchant for forthrightness, the paucity of record of Austens life leaves modern biographers little to work with. The situation was compounded as successive generations of the family expunged and sanitized the already opaque details of Austens biography, Jane Austen was born in Steventon, Hampshire, on 16 December 1775. She was born a month later than her parents expected, her father wrote of her arrival in a letter that her mother certainly expected to have brought to bed a month ago. He added that her arrival was particularly welcome as a companion to her sister. The winter of 1776 was particularly harsh and it was not until 5 April that she was baptised at the church with the single name Jane. For much of Janes life, George Austen served as the rector of the Anglican parishes at Steventon, and he came from an old, respected, and wealthy family of wool merchants. Over the centuries as each generation of eldest sons received inheritances their wealth was consolidated and he and his two sisters were orphaned as children and had to be taken in by relatives. His sister Philadelphia went to India to find a husband and George entered St Johns College, Oxford on a fellowship and she came from the prominent Leigh family, her father was rector at All Souls College, Oxford, where she grew up among the gentry
12.
Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
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Johann Wolfgang von Goethe was a German writer and statesman. In addition, numerous literary and scientific fragments, more than 10,000 letters and he was an early participant in the Sturm und Drang literary movement. He also contributed to the planning of Weimars botanical park and the rebuilding of its Ducal Palace and his first major scientific work, the Metamorphosis of Plants, was published after he returned from a 1788 tour of Italy. During this period, Goethe published his novel, Wilhelm Meisters Apprenticeship, the verse epic Hermann and Dorothea, and, in 1808. Goethes comments and observations form the basis of several biographical works, Goethes father, Johann Caspar Goethe, lived with his family in a large house in Frankfurt, then an Imperial Free City of the Holy Roman Empire. Though he had studied law in Leipzig and had been appointed Imperial Councillor, Johann Caspar married Goethes mother, Catharina Elizabeth Textor at Frankfurt on 20 August 1748, when he was 38 and she was 17. All their children, with the exception of Johann Wolfgang and his sister, Cornelia Friederica Christiana and his father and private tutors gave Goethe lessons in all the common subjects of their time, especially languages. Goethe also received lessons in dancing, riding and fencing, Johann Caspar, feeling frustrated in his own ambitions, was determined that his children should have all those advantages that he had not. Although Goethes great passion was drawing, he became interested in literature, Friedrich Gottlieb Klopstock. He also took pleasure in reading works on history and religion. He writes about this period, Goethe became also acquainted with Frankfurt actors, among early literary attempts, he was infatuated with Gretchen, who would later reappear in his Faust and the adventures with whom he would concisely describe in Dichtung und Wahrheit. He adored Caritas Meixner, a wealthy Worms traders daughter and friend of his sister, Goethe studied law at Leipzig University from 1765 to 1768. He detested learning age-old judicial rules by heart, preferring instead to attend the lessons of Christian Fürchtegott Gellert. In Leipzig, Goethe fell in love with Anna Katharina Schönkopf, in 1770, he anonymously released Annette, his first collection of poems. His uncritical admiration for many contemporary poets vanished as he became interested in Gotthold Ephraim Lessing, already at this time, Goethe wrote a good deal, but he threw away nearly all of these works, except for the comedy Die Mitschuldigen. The restaurant Auerbachs Keller and its legend of Fausts 1525 barrel ride impressed him so much that Auerbachs Keller became the real place in his closet drama Faust Part One. As his studies did not progress, Goethe was forced to return to Frankfurt at the close of August 1768, Goethe became severely ill in Frankfurt. During the year and a half that followed, because of several relapses, during convalescence, Goethe was nursed by his mother and sister
