Study of Ignudo in Sistine Chapel, Rome (recto); Paraphrase of the Ignudo Seated to Upper Right of Prophet Jeremiah in Chapel, Rome (verso)
c. 1800
Medium
Pen and brown ink (recto and verso) on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
20 × 15.8 cm (7 7/8 × 6 1/4 in.)
Classification
pen and ink drawings
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
113716
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Fuseli lived in Rome from 1770 to 1778. It was there that Michelangelo became his great hero and role model, and where Fuseli developed his own Michelangelesque style of drawing. Although this rapid sketch—a study of one of the male nudes (Ignudi) by Michelangelo in the Sistine Chapel—was probably made well after he had returned to England, Michelangelo’s art informed Fuseli’s work throughout his life.
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...