About the Etching

 This is one of Rembrandt’s most puzzling and intriguing prints, as its exact subject is a mystery. Although it is most often known as Doctor Fautreius or Faust. It shows an elderly scholar in his study, transfixed by the apparition of a blazing disc of light enclosing a series of letters. The scene may represent an alchemist. Although nicknamed ‘Faust’, it does not accord with any passage in Marlowe’s original ‘Dr Faustus’ (c. 1587). The shining disc also remains unexplained, although the letters ‘INRI’ match the inscription placed over Christ’s head during the crucifixion (Iesus Nazarenus, Rex Iudaeorum). The scene possibly shows an allegory of faith on how Rembrandt interpreted the story of the legend Faust; the letters surrounding the disc are intended to be indecipherable, reminding the learned scholar that human knowledge is limited and ambiguous, in contrast with the clarity of divine wisdom. This makes sense according to the Faust of early books—as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of them—where he is irrevocably damned because he prefers human to divine knowledge: “he laid the Holy Scriptures behind the door and under the bench, refused to be called doctor of theology, but preferred to be styled doctor of medicine” (Walter Alison Philips, ‘Faust’, 1911).

The Story of Faust

Faust is the protagonist of a classic German legend, based on the historical Johann Georg Faust (c. 1480–1540), who was a German itinerant alchemist, astrologer and magician of the German Renaissance. The erudite Faust is highly successful yet bored and depressed with his life as a scholar. After an attempt to take his own life, he calls on the Devil for further knowledge and magic powers with which to indulge all the pleasure and knowledge of the world. In response, the Devil’s representative, Mephistopheles, appears. He makes a bargain with Faust: Mephistopheles will serve Faust with his magic powers for a set number of years, but at the end of the term, the Devil will claim Faust’s soul, and Faust will be eternally enslaved. Mephistopheles is a difficult servant, and Faust is challenged by his tricks, lies, and temptations. Despite their adventures, Faust accomplishes little or nothing of substance, wasting his opportunity with frivolities and indulgences offered up by the demon. Faust tries to revoke his pact under the burden of growing disgrace and damnation, but is dominated by Satan and his own doubts.He is irrevocably corrupted and believes his sins cannot be forgiven; when the term ends, the Devil carries him off to Hell. However in Goethe’s later rendition of the story (c. 1790), Faust is saved by God via his constant striving. Today, “Faust” and the adjective “Faustian” imply a situation in which an ambitious person surrenders moral integrity in order to achieve power and success for a limited term.