"Der Berggeist" is the origin of 'Gandalf', not Gandalf: Josef Madlener, J.R.R. Tolkien, and a misunderstanding

To this day Humphrey Carpenter's Biography (1977) remains the best such book on Tolkien's life and works. Carpenter's personal connection and the fact that he has been the only biographer so far with full access to all materials on Tolkien make his publication unique.

However, many years have passed since then and research has shown that the Biography has a number of minor details that are misleading or wrong. One of these details is this legendary paragraph on Tolkien's travels in Switzerland in 1911:

Before setting off on the return journey to England, Tolkien bought some picture postcards. Among them was a reproduction of a painting by a German artist, J. Madlener. It is called Der Berggeist, the mountain spirit, and it shows an old man sitting on a rock under a pine tree. He has a white beard and wears a wide-brimmed round hat and a long cloak. He is talking to a white fawn that is nuzzling his upturned hands, and he has a humorous but compassionate expression; there is a glimpse of rocky mountains in the distance. Tolkien preserved this postcard carefully, and long afterwards he wrote on the paper cover in which he kept it: 'Origin of Gandalf'. [Carpenter, Biography, p.59]

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