The Nightmare (1781)
Henry Fuseli (Swiss, 1741-1825) Born Johann Heinrich Füssli.
Born in Zurich, Fuseli spent most of his life in England. Read theology intending to become a priest, but the discovery of Italy, where he spent eight years absorbing the atmosphere of the recently uncovered ruins and the works of Michelangelo, drove him to paint themes which can be described as Romantic, centred around the imaginary, the Gothic and the horrible. He found in the works of Shakespeare, Milton and Wieland a dream-like universe which suited him. The cold, neo-classical purity to which he aspired does not mask the presence of the uneasy sexuality of the 1800s. He is most at home with the macabre, the realms of the unconscious and Romantic eccentricity, making him one of the great precursors of Symbolism and even of Surrealism.

Fuseli is also the artist behind the brilliant illustrations of Demonic heads in Francis Barrett's book The Magus. A Gallery of the Demonic heads can be found HERE.

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