Faust and Marguerite in the garden walking hand-in-hand. Engraving by A. Blanchard III, 1853, after A. Scheffer, 1846.

"The subject of Faust and Marguerite (Gretchen) in the garden of her neighbor Martha who looks on with Mephistopheles comes from Part One of Goethe’s Faust. The exquisitely painted Marguerite, beautiful and innocent, has a finely modeled torso, exuding a sinuous sensuality of which she appears unaware. Faust, determined to seduce her and transformed by Mephistopheles' magic into a handsome youth, places his head close to her while bringing about her seduction and ultimate ruin. He says: "No sighs or trembling! Look in my eyes, / And let them, let this handclasp say to you / Things beyond human speech. / Ah love, wholly to yield one's self, to know / Deep bliss that has no ending. / Marked for eternity, so deep, / This cannot end - unless despair were all! / Nay, there's no ending then." Only the mocking face of Mephistopheles in the shadows may portend the tragic conclusion of this love affair"--website of Stair Sainty Matthiesen