Now, apparently for the first time, he heard the names of Haller, Buffon, and Linnaeus, the last of whom he, in later years, named with Spinoza and Shakespeare as one of the chief moulding forces of his life.

Through the influence and example of other men he intermittently practised etching, drawing, and engraving--all arts in which he retained a lifelong interest.

But among all the persons in Leipzig who influenced him Goethe gave the first place to Friedrich Oeser, director of the academy of drawing in the city.

Oeser was about fifty years of age, jovial in disposition, and an experienced man of the world.

Though as an artist he is now held in little regard, his reputation was great in his own day,[34] and he had a reflected glory in being the friend of Winckelmann, who was reputed to have profited by his teaching in art.