Thursday, November 24, 2016

Henry Fuseli drawings at the British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Lady Macbeth Sleepwalking - Roman Album
1772
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Satan, Sin & Death (Paradise Lost) - Roman Album
1776-80
British Museum

Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) spent most of the 1770s in Rome studying the art of the past under the sponsorship of several English patrons. The drawings Fuseli collected in his Roman Albums continued to serve him as a mine of images for the rest of his life. One of these albums made its way to the British Museum in the 19th century, where it remains. Most of the pages are finished compositions, and not the sketches of contingency. Many are identifiable copies of existing works of art in Rome, where Fuseli's feverish neoclassicism found a happy hunting ground.

Henry Fuseli
Joseph Interpreting Pharoah's Dream - Roman Album
1774
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Perseus & Andromeda - Roman Album
1778-80
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Seated Figure with Drawing Board, after Raphael - Roman Album 
1777
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Roboam Lunette, Sistine Ceiling, after Michelangelo - Roman Album
1777
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Bacchic Drawing, after Roman Relief - Roman Album
1770
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Satyrs & Nymphs - Roman Album
1770s
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Figure Studies - Roman Album
1776-78
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Roman Scene - Roman Album
1771
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Dancing Couple - Roman Album
1770s
British Museum

Henry Fuseli
Two Figures Struggle while a Third Watches - Roman Album
1770s
British Museum

I am grateful to the British Museum for the excellent reproductions.