Henry Fuseli (1741 - 1825)

• Was a Swiss painter, draughtsman and writer on art.
• He spent much of his life in Britain.
• He was the second of 18 children.
• He studied Michelangelo's works.
• Fuseli painted more than 200 pictures.
• His sketches or designs numbered about 800; they have admirable qualities of invention and design, and are frequently superior to his paintings.
• He produced no landscapes—"Damn Nature! she always puts me out," was his characteristic exclamation—and painted only two portraits.
• He was a thorough master of French, Italian, English and German, and could write in all these languages with equal facility and vigour.
• His pupils included John Constable, Benjamin Haydon, William Etty, Edwin Landseer and William Blake.
• After a life of uninterrupted good health he died at the age of 84.
• The displayed painting is a crop from: Head of a Damned Soul from Dante's Inferno, (verso), 1770-78.
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Henry Fuseli, Head of a Damned Soul from Dante's Inferno, (verso), 1770-78

Original, Art Institute of Chicago. Visited in 2018.

Henry Fuseli, Head of a Damned Soul from Dante's Inferno, (verso), 1770-78

Henry Fuseli, Milton Dictating to His Daughter, 1794

Original, Art Institute of Chicago. Visited in 2018.

Henry Fuseli, Milton Dictating to His Daughter, 1794

Henry Fuseli, Sketch for "Oath on the Rütli," Female Figure (verso), 1779-81; 1785-90 (verso)

Original, Art Institute of Chicago. Visited in 2018.

Henry Fuseli, Sketch for "Oath on the Rütli," Female Figure (verso), 1779-81; 1785-90 (verso)

Henry Fuseli, Satan and Death with Sin Intervening, 1799-1800

Original, Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Visited in 2018.

Henry Fuseli, Satan and Death with Sin Intervening, 1799-1800

Henry Fuseli, Oedipus Cursing His Son, Polynices, 1786

Original, The National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC. Visited in 2017-2018.

Henry Fuseli, Oedipus Cursing His Son, Polynices, 1786

Henry Fuseli, The Fire King 1801-10

Original, Victoria and Albert Museum - London. Visited in 2018.

Henry Fuseli, The Dismission of Adam and Eve from Paradise, 1796-1799

Original, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. Visited in 2019.

Henry Fuseli, The Dismission of Adam and Eve from Paradise, 1796-1799

Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781

Original, DIA, Detroit Institute of Arts. Visited in 2020.

Henry Fuseli, The Nightmare, 1781

Henry Fuseli, The Night-Hag Visiting Lapland Witches, 1796

Original, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Visited in 2017-2021.

Henry Fuseli, The Night-Hag Visiting Lapland Witches, 1796

Henry Fuseli, Percival Delivering Belisane from the Enchantment of Urma, exhibited 1783

Original, Tate Britain, London. Visited in 2018.

Henry Fuseli, Percival Delivering Belisane from the Enchantment of Urma, exhibited 1783

Henry Fuseli, Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers, exhibited 1812

Original, Tate Britain, London. Visited in 2018.

Henry Fuseli, Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers, exhibited 1812

Henry Fuseli, Titania and Bottom, c. 1790

Original, Tate Britain, London. Visited in 2018.

Henry Fuseli, Titania and Bottom, c. 1790