Novalis, the pen name of Friedrich von Hardenberg, is an 18th Century German Romanticist, is a writer whose popularity remains strong in the circles who know of him. A favorite of many authors and artists, his work still has only been partially translated into English. Novalis was a polymath who was a brilliant philosopher as well as poet and novelist. This all encompassing understanding of art and science led the Surrealist painter Max Ernst to call Novalis one of his all time favorite writers.