Das Gespenst des Dion (The Apparition Appears to Dion Wielding a Broom, Plutarch, Dion, 55)
Medium
Outline engraving and etching
Dimensions
Plate: 9 15/16 × 12 11/16 in. (25.2 × 32.2 cm) Sheet: 13 9/16 × 19 3/16 in. (34.4 × 48.7 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of Jenny Philippsohn, in memory of Siegfried Philippsohn, 1955
Accession Number
55.526.13
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the dramatic print *Das Gespenst des Dion (The Apparition Appears to Dion Wielding a Broom, Plutarch, Dion, 55)* from 1806, Henry Fuseli's visionary design is masterfully rendered by engraver Johann Heinrich Lips. Drawing from Plutarch's *Life of Dion*, chapter 55, the scene captures a supernatural moment: the ancient Syracusan leader Dion confronts a ghostly apparition while brandishing a humble broom, blending classical history with eerie otherworldliness. Fuseli, a pioneer of Romanticism famed for nightmarish visions like *The Nightmare*, infuses the composition with theatrical tension, ...