John Henry Fuseli

Sketch for "Oath on the Rütli," Female Figure (verso), 1779/81; 1785/90 (verso)Oil on canvas stretcher: 29 15/16 x 26 9/16 in. (76 x 67.5 cm); irregular edges of the original canvas: 28 5/8 x 22 3/4 in. (72.7 x 57.8 cm); edges of the Oath on the Rütli image: 25 5/8 x 21 3/8 in. (65.1 x 54.3 cm) Anonymous gift, 1980.170

Henry Fuseli, Oath on the Rutli, 1780, oil on canvas

John Henry Fuseli worked in a different way than many artists in the late 18th century; this difference in way of working is most famously illustrated in the work "The Nightmare" which depicts a young woman laying sprawled across a couch with her head thrown back while an evil spirit or incubus sits at her abdomen, glaring out at the viewer.  Our textbook discusses how Fuseli enjoyed exploring the "dark recesses of human mind [which] led him to paint supernatural and irrational subjects," (928, Stokstadt).  Heavily influenced by  tortured and expressive works of Roman sculpture, plus Michelangelo's expressive and emotive paintings, Fuseli painted many works which were quite out of the norm for the time period.  He was not widely appreciated by critics because they all thought he was completely insane and his subject matter was too out there for the time.  The average person, however, quite enjoyed his mad, dark and ethereal subjects;  many prints were made of his work, one of which was hung in the office of psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud whose theories were tied to dreams and nightmares.

Although Fuseli worked in ethereal and particularly dark subject matter, he also worked as a history painter.  The painting "Oath on the Rutli" (see right), although not a historically corroborated event, is widely celebrated by the Swiss (Fuseli is of Swiss descent) as the day when the Old Swiss Confederacy came into being.  Fuseli celebrates this not-implausible fictional event in a dark scene, with the sun breaking out of an opening in the clouds, three men holding their right hands up to the sky, one holding a sword, presumably the Rutli, with left hands clasps together in a binding oath.  The sketch of the Oath painting is considered to be one of the closest to the finished piece, looking more like it than the other studies that have been found and exhibited.  This was the only painting Fuseli ever signed and dated, pointing to his unique Swiss heritage and the particular pride he takes in that fact.  Although he is considered a British painter, he was born in Zurich.

The above paintings are a double sided sketch;  the side with the three men is for the painting to the right, called Oath of Rutli.  You can see how Fuseli changed the colors and worked through composition with the sketch and in comparison with the final, the sketch is much brighter and evokes more movement through the hurried brushstrokes used.  The painting on the back of the sketch is called "Psyche" who is the Greek goddess of the soul.  Fuseli depicts Psyche as a beautiful , but possible fearful windswept woman.  The palette used is subdued, suggesting an other-worldly and ethereal setting.  Flowers in her hair, and exposed breasts illustrate her goodness and her vulnerability, respectively.  Her stance and the look on her face bear the mark of a woman conflicted: her face pointed one way, but her body is positioned to go the opposite.

Fuseli had a varied and interesting career, one more thing to note was that he has much work in secret.  He sketched and worked on erotic works, drawings mostly, of which most were purportedly burned after his death by his wife.  What a shame, for it would have been lovely to see the way he depicted the baudy acts of the 18th century people in his particularly Romantic stylings.


Bibliography:

1.     Paintings and Drawings by Fuseli

       John Woodward

       The Burlington Magazine , Vol. 92, No. 565 (Apr., 1950), pp. 111-113

       Published by: The Burlington Magazine Publications Ltd.

       Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/870276

2.    Public Virtue and Private Terror: A Two-Sided Oil Sketch by Henry Fuseli

       Frederick N. Bohrer

       Zeitschrift für Kunstgeschichte , 53. Bd., H. 1 (1990), pp. 89-106

       Published by: Deutscher Kunstverlag GmbH Munchen Berlin

       Article Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/1482506

3.    "Between Fantasy And Angst: Assessing The Subject And Meaning Of Henry Fuseli's Late Pornographic Drawings, 1800-25."
      Smith, Camilla.      Art History 33.3 (2010): 420-447. Art Full Text (H.W. Wilson). Web. 29 Feb. 2012.

4.   Henry Fuseli. British, 1741-1825.  Sketch for "Oath on the Rütli," Female Figure (verso), 1779/81; 1785/90 (verso).  Oil on canvas       http://www.artic.edu/aic/collections/artwork/59989?search_id=1