Johann Heinrich FüssliSwiss, 1741–1825Figure Studies (recto and verso)
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Chicago, United States
It belongs to the collection, but is not on display at present.
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- In this state since
- Source
- The museum
About the work
In this double-sided study, Fuseli cleverly traced the same figure on opposite sides of the sheet, as if thinking in three dimensions. His nudes are mostly inspired by ancient sources, as in the hanging satyr with his arms raised (based on a famous Hellenistic sculpture of the flayed Marsyas), but Fuseli activates them with his dynamic line.
Drawing the human figure dominated artistic training in Fuseli’s day. While sketching from a live model was part of conventional practice, copying ancient Roman sculpture was equally important. Fuseli’s exposure to an abundance of ancient sculpture during his years in Rome (1770–78) became a visual catalogue he drew upon throughout his life.
Art Institute of ChicagoCC BY 4.0
Particulars
- Accession number
- 1972.1236
What it shows
In the catalog
Sources
- Art Institute of Chicago
- Image: Art Institute of Chicago — CC0
Meanwhile, in the life of Johann Heinrich Füssli
The whole life1778–1825 · Workplace
Great Britain
1788–1803 · Residence
37 Foley Street
1799
The “Milton Gallery”: 47 paintings
Fuseli exhibited 47 paintings on subjects from Milton, many of them very large and completed at intervals over nine years, hoping to form a Milton gallery comparable to Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery. The exhibition proved a commercial failure and closed in 1800.
1799
Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy
In 1799 Fuseli was appointed Professor of Painting at the Royal Academy. His pupils included Theodor von Holst, David Wilkie, Benjamin Haydon, William Etty and Edwin Landseer.
1801
Begins his lectures on painting at the Academy
Fuseli's principal written work was a series of twelve lectures delivered at the Royal Academy, begun in 1801. He wrote French, Italian, English and German with equal facility, though he preferred German as the vehicle of his thoughts.
