 Swiss-born
painter, whose imaginative paintings, emphasizing melodrama,
fantasy, and horror, exerted an important influence on the budding
romantic movement in England and on the Continent. He worked
in England for most of his career. Fuseli, originally named
Johann Heinrich Füssli, was born in Zürich, Switzerland.
Encouraged by the English painter Sir Joshua Reynolds, he spent
nearly a decade (1770-1778) in Italy studying
Michelangelo's
work and then settled in England in 1779. Fuseli became well
known for his expressive and often melodramatic historical paintings,
which led to his election to the Royal Academy in 1799 and his
designation as Keeper for the academy in 1804. Fuseli's
enduring fame, however, rests on his imaginative fantasy paintings,
which abound with apparitions, extravagant poses, and lurid nocturnal
effects. One of the best known is The Nightmare (two versions:
1781, Detroit Institute of Arts; 1790?, Goethemuseum, Frankfurt,
Germany), picturing a young woman draped erotically on her bed
in the throes of a nightmare, attended by horrific apparitions
of a gnome/devil and a horse's head with glowing eyes. Fuseli
exerted a strong influence on the work of later romantics, especially
the English poet and painter William Blake. |