Aided by Eeriboia, Hermes Carries Off the Exhausted Ares from the Sleeping Sons of Aloeus (recto); Sketch of One of the Sleeping Sons of Aloeus (verso)
1819
Medium
Graphite and brush and black wash, with touches of charcoal (recto), and graphite (verso), on cream wove paper
Dimensions
52.3 × 73 cm (20 5/8 × 28 3/4 in.)
Classification
graphite
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
113841
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
In book 5 of the Iliad, Homer tells the ancient Greek myth of Ares, god of war, captured by the giants Otos and Ephialtes: “Ares suffered when . . . the sons of Aloeus imprisoned [him] in a vessel of bronze. Ares would have perished had not fair Eeriboia, stepmother of the sons of Aloeus, told Hermes, who stole him away when he was already worn out by the severity of his bondage.” Fuseli, who was a scholar as well as an artist, delighted in flaunting his classical learning. In the background, H...
About the Artist
Henry Fuseli · 1741–1825
Henry Fuseli (1741-1825), born Johann Heinrich Füssli in Zürich, was a Swiss-British painter whose visionary works exploring dreams, nightmares, and psychological terror made him one of the most original figures of the Romantic movement. His art bridged Neoclassical discipline with Romantic emotionalism, creating images of supernatural intensity that would influence artists from William Blake to t...