August von Goethe, portrait by Julie Gräfin Egloffstein Julius August Walther von Goethe (25 December 1789 – 27 October 1830) was the only one of the five children of

Johann Wolfgang von Goethe Johann Wolfgang (von) Goethe (28 August 1749 – 22 March 1832) was a German polymath who is widely regarded as the most influential writer in the German language. His work has had a wide-ranging influence on Western literature, literary, Polit ...

and

Christiane Vulpius Johanna Christiana Sophie Vulpius von Goethe (1 June 1765 – 6 June 1816) was the longtime lover and later wife of Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Biography Vulpius spent her childhood in ''Luthergasse'', one of the oldest parts of Weimar. Her pat ...

to survive into adulthood. He was born in

Weimar Weimar is a city in the state (Germany), German state of Thuringia, in Central Germany (cultural area), Central Germany between Erfurt to the west and Jena to the east, southwest of Leipzig, north of Nuremberg and west of Dresden. Together w ...

and served at the court of Karl August, Grand Duke of Saxe-Weimar-Eisenach. He studied law 1808-1809 at the Ruprecht-Karls-Universität Heidelberg. After that brief period, his primary employment was as a kind of personal secretary to his father. He accompanied him on his frequent trips and kept his travel diary. Like his parents, he had a penchant for alcohol, but unlike them, he had a tendency to be melancholic. At the age of 27, he married Ottilie von Pogwisch (1796–1872) on 17 Jun 1817 in Weimar. Although the marriage proved difficult, the couple had three children: Walther von Goethe, Wolfgang Maximilian von Goethe (1820–1883) and Alma Sedina Henriette Cornelia von Goethe (1827–1844). In 1830, he undertook a trip to Italy with his father's friend Johann Peter Eckermann.Eckermann is best known for his '' Conversations with Goethe'' They traveled by way of

Frankfurt Frankfurt am Main () is the most populous city in the States of Germany, German state of Hesse. Its 773,068 inhabitants as of 2022 make it the List of cities in Germany by population, fifth-most populous city in Germany. Located in the forela ...

Lausanne Lausanne ( , ; ; ) is the capital and largest List of towns in Switzerland, city of the Swiss French-speaking Cantons of Switzerland, canton of Vaud, in Switzerland. It is a hilly city situated on the shores of Lake Geneva, about halfway bet ...

, and

Milan Milan ( , , ; ) is a city in northern Italy, regional capital of Lombardy, the largest city in Italy by urban area and the List of cities in Italy, second-most-populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of nea ...

, where Eckermann became ill and returned home. August traveled on to

La Spezia La Spezia (, or ; ; , in the local ) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second-largest city in the Liguria ...

, where he had an accident and was injured. He nevertheless traveled on to

Rome Rome (Italian language, Italian and , ) is the capital city and most populated (municipality) of Italy. It is also the administrative centre of the Lazio Regions of Italy, region and of the Metropolitan City of Rome. A special named with 2, ...

, where he died of

smallpox Smallpox was an infectious disease caused by Variola virus (often called Smallpox virus), which belongs to the genus '' Orthopoxvirus''. The last naturally occurring case was diagnosed in October 1977, and the World Health Organization (W ...

in the night of 26–27 October.

References

*Karl von Holtei: ''Goethe und sein Sohn: Weimarer Erlebnisse in den Jahren 1827–1831''. Vera-Verlag, Hamburg 1924 {{DEFAULTSORT:Goethe, August von Johann Wolfgang von Goethe 1789 births 1830 deaths People from Weimar