Henry Fuseli

Henry Fuseli (1741-1825), 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 (see Romanticism). 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.