ART
- 255 p. illus. (some col.), ports. 30 cm. #281224
- Bibliography: p. 238-239.
- Fuseli, Henry, 1741-1825
- First Edition
- Henry Fuseli RA German: Johann Heinrich Füssli 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain.
Many of his successful works depict supernatural experiences, such as The Nightmare. He produced painted works for John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery and his own “Milton Gallery”. He held the posts of Professor of Painting and Keeper at the Royal Academy. His style had a considerable influence on many younger British artists, including William Blake.
- Describing his style, William Michael Rossetti in the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica Eleventh Edition said that:
His figures are full of life and earnestness, and seem to have an object in view which they follow with intensity. Like Rubens he excelled in the art of setting his figures in motion. Though the lofty and terrible was his proper sphere, Fuseli had a fine perception of the ludicrous. The grotesque humour of his fairy scenes, especially those taken from A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, is in its way not less remarkable than the poetic power of his more ambitious works.[4]
Though not noted as a colourist,[4] Fuseli was described as a master of light and shadow.[11] Rather than setting out his palette methodically in the manner of most painters, he merely distributed the colours across it randomly. He often used his pigments in the form of a dry powder, which he hastily combined on the end of his brush with oil, or turpentine, or gold size, regardless of the quantity, and depending on accident for the general effect.