Figure Studies (recto and verso)
c. 1800
Medium
Pen and brown ink (recto and verso) on cream laid paper
Dimensions
27.4 × 19 cm (10 13/16 × 7 1/2 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
113809
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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 ...
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...