The rain of roses (La pluie de roses)

Although he is now considered the last great French Symbolist painter, for much of the 20th Century, Gustav Adolf Mossa’s achievements as an artist were largely unknown. He was the son of landscape painter Alexis Mossa (1844-1926), who initially taught him the fundamentals of painting. He continued his training at the École des Arts Décoratifs, Nice, before turning to Symbolism following a visit to the Exposition Universelle, Paris in 1900. This began a highly productive decade of painting and illustration, though his output largely ceased from 1918 onwards when he was appointed Curator of the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Nice – a position also held by his father.

This illustration depicts a scene from the German composer Johann Wolfgang von Goethe’s (1749-1832) Faust Part II, scored some 10 years later by German composer Robert Schumann (1810-1856) between 1844 and 1853. It was from Schumann’s score that Mossa drew inspiration for his illustrations. The present composition is drawn from Scene V. Faust has perished and his body awaits the afterlife. Mephistopheles has descended on his grave with a group of devils, with the intention of capturing Faust’s soul. A host of angels are then revealed, who cover the grave with rose petals. The petals and presence of the angels drive Mephistopheles from the grave, and allow the angels – personified by the Virgin Mary, and Faust’s lover, Gretchen - to bring Faust's soul into the heavenly realm.