Fuseli, Henry

Fuseli, Henry
orig. Johann Heinrich Füssli

born Feb. 7, 1741, Zürich, Switz.
died April 16, 1825, London, Eng.

Swiss-born British painter and writer on art.

The son of a portrait painter, he trained in theology as well as in art and art history. He left his native Zürich for London in 1764. Encouraged by Sir Joshua Reynolds, he went to Italy in 1770 and stayed for eight years; on his return to England, his works exhibited at the Royal Academy, such as his most famous work, The Nightmare (1781), secured his reputation. His subject matter was chiefly literary, and his images portrayed macabre fantasies and the grotesque. He was elected a full academician in 1790 and taught painting at the academy (1799–1805).

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▪ Swiss painter
original name  Johann Heinrich Füssli  
born Feb. 7, 1741, Zürich, Switz.
died April 16, 1825, Putney Hill, London, Eng.

      Swiss-born artist whose paintings are among the most dramatic, original, and sensual works of his time.

      Fuseli was reared in an intellectual and artistic milieu and initially studied theology. Obliged to flee Zürich because of political entanglements, he went first to Berlin, and then settled in London in 1764. He was encouraged to become a painter by Sir Joshua Reynolds (Reynolds, Sir Joshua), and he left England in 1770 to study in Italy, where he stayed until 1778. During his stay in Rome he studied the works of Michelangelo and classical art, which became his major stylistic influences.

      Fuseli is famous for his paintings and drawings of nude figures caught in strained and violent poses suggestive of intense emotion. He also had a penchant for inventing macabre fantasies, such as that in The Nightmare (1781). Always drawn to literary and theatrical subjects, Fuseli developed a special interest in illustrating Shakespeare (Shakespeare, William). He was one of the original contributing artists to John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, for which he painted a number of works (1786–89). He had a noticeable influence on the style of his younger contemporary, William Blake (Blake, William).

      In 1788 Fuseli was elected an associate of the Royal Academy, becoming a full academician two years later. During 1799–1805 and again from 1810 he was professor of painting at the Royal Academy. He was appointed keeper of the Academy in 1804.

Additional Reading
Peter Tomory, The Life and Art of Henry Fuseli (1972); Martin Myrone, Henry Fuseli (2001); and Martin Myrone, Christopher Frayling, and Marina Warner, Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake, and the Romantic Imagination (2006).

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Universalium. 2010.

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  • Fuseli, Henry — (2/6/1741 Zurich 4/16/1825 London) (Switzerland / England); aka Fussli, Hans Heinrich / Fussli, Heinrich / Fussli, Henri / Fussli, Johann    Painter, author, and theorist. Came to London in 1765 where he became influenced by J. Reynolds and was… …   Dictionary of erotic artists: painters, sculptors, printmakers, graphic designers and illustrators

  • Fuseli,Henry — Fu·sel·i (fyo͞oʹzə lē ), Henry. 1741 1825. Swiss born British painter whose works, including The Nightmare (1781), display a fantastic, macabre quality that influenced the surrealists of the 1920s and 1930s. * * * …   Universalium

  • Fuseli, Henry — orig. Johann Heinrich Füssli (7 feb. 1741, Zürich, Suiza–16 abr. 1825, Londres, Inglaterra). Pintor británico y teórico del arte de origen suizo. Era hijo de un retratista y se formó en teología, arte e historia del arte. Abandonó su Zürich natal …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • FUSELI, HENRY —    properly FUSOLI    a famous portrait painter, born at Zurich; coming to England at the age of 22, he became acquainted with Sir Joshua Reynolds, who advised him to go to Rome; after eight years spent in study of the Italian masters, and… …   The Nuttall Encyclopaedia

  • Henry Fuseli — Füssli im Gespräch mit Johann Jakob Bodmer, 1778–1781 Das wohl be …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • Fuseli — Füssli im Gespräch mit Johann Jakob Bodmer, 1778–1781 Das wohl be …   Deutsch Wikipedia

  • henry — /hen ree/, n., pl. henries, henrys. Elect. the SI unit of inductance, formally defined to be the inductance of a closed circuit in which an electromotive force of one volt is produced when the electric current in the circuit varies uniformly at a …   Universalium

  • Henry — /hen ree/, n. 1. Joseph, 1797 1878, U.S. physicist. 2. O., pen name of William Sydney Porter. 3. Patrick, 1736 99, American patriot, orator, and statesman. 4. Cape, a cape in SE Virginia at the mouth of the Chesapeake Bay. 5. Fort. See …   Universalium

  • Henry — ► sustantivo masculino ELECTRICIDAD Denominación del henrio en la nomenclatura internacional. IRREG. plural henrys * * * henrio o henry (de J. Henry, físico inglés) m. Fís. Unidad de inductancia eléctrica en el Sistema Internacional. * * * …   Enciclopedia Universal

  • henry — ► sustantivo masculino ELECTRICIDAD Denominación del henrio en la nomenclatura internacional. IRREG. plural henrys * * * henrio o henry (de J. Henry, físico inglés) m. Fís. Unidad de inductancia eléctrica en el Sistema Internacional. * * * henry …   Enciclopedia Universal

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