Portrait of a Woman (Martha Hess)
1781
Medium
Charcoal and black chalk, with stumping, heightened with white chalk and touches of red-orange pastel, on grayish-tan laid paper
Dimensions
44.2 × 32.5 cm (17 7/16 × 12 13/16 in.)
Classification
chalk
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
36126
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
On a visit to Zurich, Switzerland, in 1778–79, Fuseli made several portraits of Martha Hess, a niece of the artist’s friend Johann Kaspar Lavater. Lavater eventually incorporated prints after Fuseli’s drawings of Martha and her sister into his famous Essays on Physiognomy (published 1789). Martha was described as ethereal and inclined toward religious fanaticism, both features consistent with how Fuseli presents her. Brilliantly lit, her ecstatic face appears to be emerging from darkness. Fusel...
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...