Fisiognomica a fumetti: Töpffer, Goethe e Le Docteur Festus

The paper focuses on the figure of Rodolphe Töpffer, a pioneer in the field of comics, and the reception of his work by Goethe's journal ‘Ueber Kunst und Alterthum’. Goethe took an interest in the figure and work of Töpffer, appreciating his wit; he read with curiosity his Doctoeur Festus, a comic strip story (litterature en stampes) with parodistic elements of Goethe's masterpiece. In his works, Töpffer uses an essential graphic line, theorised and explained in his "Essai de physiognomonie", to represent emotions and characters, thus reconnecting with the artistic traditions and physiognomic debates of the time.