# Henry Fuseli
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{{Short description|Swiss artist and writer (1741–1825)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2026}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2015}}
{{Infobox artist
| honorific_suffix = [RA](/source/List_of_Royal_Academicians)
| image = Henry Fuseli by James Northcote.jpg
| caption = ''[Portrait of Henry Fuseli](/source/Portrait_of_Henry_Fuseli)'' by [James Northcote](/source/James_Northcote), 1778
| birth_name = Johann Heinrich Füssli
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1741|2|7|df=y}}
| birth_place = [Zürich](/source/Z%C3%BCrich), [Switzerland](/source/Old_Swiss_Confederacy)
| death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1825|4|17|1741|2|7}}
| death_place = [Putney Hill](/source/Putney), London, England
| movement = [Romanticism](/source/Romanticism)
| notable_works = ''[The Nightmare](/source/The_Nightmare)''
| patrons =
| spouse = {{marriage|Sophia Rawlins|1788}}
| awards =
}}
'''Henry Fuseli''' {{Post-nominals|post-noms=[RA](/source/List_of_Royal_Academicians)}} ({{IPAc-en|ˈ|f|juː|z|ə|l|i|,_|f|juː|ˈ|z|ɛ|l|i}} {{respell|FEW|zə|lee|,_|few|ZEL|ee}};[{{Cite American Heritage Dictionary|Fuseli|access-date=14 August 2019}}][{{cite web |url=https://www.collinsdictionary.com/dictionary/english/fuseli |title=Fuseli |work=[Collins English Dictionary](/source/Collins_English_Dictionary) |publisher=[HarperCollins](/source/HarperCollins) |access-date=14 August 2019}}][{{Cite encyclopedia |url= http://www.lexico.com/definition/Fuseli,+Henry |archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20200925004648/https://www.lexico.com/definition/fuseli,_henry |url-status= dead |archive-date= 25 September 2020 |title= Fuseli, Henry |dictionary= [Lexico](/source/Lexico) UK English Dictionary |publisher= [Oxford University Press](/source/Oxford_University_Press)}}] {{langx|de|'''Johann Heinrich Füssli'''|italic=no}} {{IPA|de|ˈjoːhan ˈhaɪ̯nʁɪç ˈfyːsli|}}; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, [draughtsman](/source/drawing), and writer on art who spent much of his career in Britain.
Many of his successful works depict [supernatural](/source/supernatural) experiences, such as ''[The Nightmare](/source/The_Nightmare)''. He produced painted works for [John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery](/source/Boydell_Shakespeare_Gallery) and for his own "Milton Gallery". He held the posts of Professor of Painting and Keeper at the [Royal Academy](/source/Royal_Academy_of_Arts). His style had a considerable influence on many younger British artists, including [William Blake](/source/William_Blake) (1757–1827).
==Biography==
[[File:Johann Heinrich Füssli 011.jpg|thumb|left|''[Thor Battering the Midgard Serpent](/source/Thor_Battering_the_Midgard_Serpent)'' was Fuseli's diploma work for the [Royal Academy](/source/Royal_Academy), accepted 1790.]]
Fuseli was born on 7 February 1741 in [Zürich](/source/Z%C3%BCrich), the second of 18 children.[{{EB1911|inline=y|wstitle= Fuseli, Henry |volume= 11 |last= Rossetti |first= William Michael |author-link= William Michael Rossetti | page= 368 }}] Among his brothers and sisters were [Johann Kaspar](/source/Johann_Kaspar_F%C3%BCssli) and [Anna](/source/Anna_F%C3%BCssli). His father was [Johann Caspar Füssli](/source/Johann_Caspar_F%C3%BCssli), a painter of portraits and landscapes, and author of ''Lives of the [Helvetic](/source/Helvetia) Painters''. He intended Henry for the church, and sent him to the Caroline college of Zürich, where he received a classical education.[[https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.2513.html Henry Fuseli at The National Gallery of Art]] One of his schoolmates there was [Johann Kaspar Lavater](/source/Johann_Kaspar_Lavater), with whom he became close friends.
After taking [orders](/source/Holy_orders) in 1761, Fuseli was forced to leave the country as a result of having helped Lavater to expose an unjust magistrate, whose powerful family sought revenge. He travelled through Germany, and then, in 1765, visited England, where he supported himself for some time by miscellaneous writing. Eventually, he became acquainted with Sir [Joshua Reynolds](/source/Joshua_Reynolds), to whom he showed his drawings. Following Reynolds' advice, he decided to devote himself entirely to art. In 1770, he made an art pilgrimage to Italy, where he remained until 1778, changing his name from Füssli to the more Italian-sounding Fuseli.[Macmillan, Duncan (2023), ''Scotland and the Origins of Modern Art'', [Lund Humphries](/source/Lund_Humphries), London, pp. 65–71, {{isbn|978-1-84822-633-3}}]
In early 1779, he returned to Britain, visiting Zürich on the way. In London, he found a commission awaiting him from Alderman [John Boydell](/source/John_Boydell), who was then setting up his [Shakespeare Gallery](/source/Boydell_Shakespeare_Gallery). Fuseli painted a number of pieces for Boydell,[[https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.2513.html Henry Fuseli at The National Gallery of Art]] and supervised the first English edition of Lavater's work on [physiognomy](/source/physiognomy).[LAVATER, John Caspar. Essays on Physiognomy, designed to promote the Knowledge and Love of Mankind. Translated by Henry Hunter, D. D. Lond. 1789-98, royal 4to. In 41 nos. forming 5 vols. "A sumptuous Edition, executed by, and under the inspection of, Thomas Holloway. The translation and engravings were under the superintendence of the celebrated H. Fuseli, R.A., at whose solicitation Lavater furnished an entire fresh set of Drawings in quarto, to suite the prevailing taste of the public, it having been originally intended for folio size. The Engravings were executed by Thos. Holloway, Bartolozzi, Wm. Blake, and other eminent artists. […]" In: [https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=hvd.hwfyf4&seq=179&q1=Essays+on+physiognomy ''The bibliographer's manual of English literature'' by William Thomas Lowndes volume 5]][''Advertisement'' [by Henry Fuseli]. In: ''Essays on physiognomy; designed to promote the knowledge and the love of mankind''. London: 1789-1798 (first edition). pp. [III-VIII]. Weblink: [https://wellcomecollection.org/works/hdwza8s9/items?canvas=11 Wellcome Collection].] He also gave [William Cowper](/source/William_Cowper) some valuable assistance in preparing a translation of [Homer](/source/Homer). In 1788, Fuseli married [Sophia Rawlins](/source/%3AFile%3ASophia_Rawlins_by_Henry_Fuseli.jpg) (originally one of his models), and he soon after became an associate of the [Royal Academy](/source/Royal_Academy).[Myrone, Martin (2001) ''Henry Fuseli''. London: Tate Gallery Publishing, p. 53. {{ISBN|1854373579}}] In 1790, he became a full [academician](/source/academician), presenting ''[Thor Battering the Midgard Serpent](/source/Thor_Battering_the_Midgard_Serpent)'' as his [diploma work](/source/Reception_piece).[[http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXSESSION_=JZYSvRhQvBq&_IXSR_=&_IXACTION_=display&_MREF_=20058&_IXSP_=1&_IXFPFX_=templates/full/&_IXSPFX_=templates/full/''Thor battering the Midgard Serpent'', 1790.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210309033520/http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXSESSION_=JZYSvRhQvBq&_IXSR_=&_IXACTION_=display&_MREF_=20058&_IXSP_=1&_IXFPFX_=templates/full/&_IXSPFX_=templates/full/ |date=9 March 2021 }} Royal Academy of Arts Collections, 5 February 2014. Retrieved 5 February 2014. [https://web.archive.org/web/20220606091322/http://www.racollection.org.uk/ixbin/indexplus?_IXSR_=2PVvAuJG9B2&_IXSP_=0&_MREF_=20056&_IXSS_=_IXSESSION_%3DZKJdpK0qDY5&%2Asform=%2Fsearch_form%2Fallform&_IXresults_=y&exhibitions=true&_IXACTION_=query&all_fields=THOR+BATTERIN Archived here.]] In 1799, Fuseli was appointed professor of painting to the Academy. Four years later, he was chosen as Keeper and resigned his professorship, but resumed it in 1810, continuing to hold both offices until his death.[[http://www.romeartlover.it/Vasi61.html Papal Palace on Monte Cavallo, Rome]. Retrieved 28 December 2011.] which, when at [Rome](/source/Rome), he liked to contemplate in the evening, relieved against a murky sky or illuminated by lightning.His figures are full of life and earnestness, and seem to have an object in view which they follow with intensity. Like [Rubens](/source/Peter_Paul_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.
Though not noted as a colourist,[{{cite book|last=Leslie |first=C. R. |type=Letter to Miss Leslie December 1816|title=Autobiographical Recollections|editor=Tom Taylor|publisher=Ticknor & Fields|location=Boston|year=1855}}] 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](/source/turpentine), or [gold size](/source/Water_gilding), regardless of the quantity, and depending on accident for the general effect. This recklessness may perhaps be explained by the fact that he did not paint in oil until the age of 25.[{{Cite web |title=The Night-Hag Visiting Lapland Witches |url=https://www.metmuseum.org/art/collection/search/436423 |access-date=12 November 2019 |website=The Met}}]
His sketches or designs numbered about 800; they have admirable qualities of invention and design and are frequently superior to his paintings. In his drawings, as in his paintings, his methods included deliberately exaggerating the proportions of the human body and throwing his figures into contorted attitudes. One technique involved setting down arbitrary points on a sheet, which then became the extreme points of the various limbs.[{{Citation|chapter=Fuseli, Henry|date=31 October 2011|publisher=Oxford University Press|doi=10.1093/benz/9780199773787.article.b00069309|title=Benezit Dictionary of Artists}}] He rarely drew figures from life, basing his art on study of the antique and Michelangelo.
He produced no [landscapes](/source/Landscape_art)—"Damn Nature! she always puts me out" was his characteristic exclamation—and painted only two portraits.[Keay, Carolyn (1974). ''Henry Fuseli''. London: Academy Editions. p. 7.] [William Blake](/source/William_Blake) was also inspired by him.[Tomory, Peter A. (1972). ''The Life and Art of Henry Fuseli''. New York: Praeger. p 211.][Schiff, Gert (1975). ''Henry Fuseli 1741–1825: [Essay Catalogue Entries and Biographical Outline]''. London: Tate Gallery Publications. p. 14. {{ISBN|9780900874888}}.]
==Death==
After a life of uninterrupted good health,[{{cite web|url=http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=45294 |title=Putney | Old and New London: Volume 6 (pp. 489–503) |publisher=British-history.ac.uk |date=22 June 2003 |access-date=14 May 2012}}] aged 84, and was buried in the crypt of [St Paul's Cathedral](/source/St_Paul's_Cathedral).["Memorials of St Paul's Cathedral" [Sinclair, W.](/source/William_Sinclair_(Archdeacon_of_London)) p. 465: London; Chapman & Hall, Ltd; 1909.] He was comparatively wealthy at the time of his death.