Faust and Mephistopheles

What you see

Two men meet at a table covered with a patterned cloth. On the left, one dressed in red, with a feathered cap, dark cape and sword, looks down; on the right, a bearded man in black leans over a huge open book, one hand raised. Above them, a shelf is crammed with books, bottles and strange objects.

The red of the hose, the cap and the curtain on the right stands out against the browns and blacks of the room. The brushwork is loose, especially in the tablecloth and the wall. Look for what seems to be a skull on the shelf, the round, globe-like object at lower left and the gilded frame behind the man in red.