Henry Fuseli ( ; ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his career in Britain.
Many of his successful works depict supernatural experiences, such as The Nightmare. He produced painted works for John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery and for his own "Milton Gallery". He held the posts of Professor of Painting and Keeper at the Royal Academy. His style had a considerable influence on many younger British artists, including William Blake (1757–1827).
Biography
thumb|left|[[Thor Battering the Midgard Serpent was Fuseli's diploma work for the Royal Academy, accepted 1790.]]
Fuseli was born on 7 February 1741 in Zürich, the second of 18 children. Among his brothers and sisters were Johann Kaspar and Anna. His father was Johann Caspar Füssli, a painter of portraits and landscapes, and author of Lives of the Helvetic Painters. He intended Henry for the church, and sent him to the Caroline college of Zürich, where he received a classical education. One of his schoolmates there was Johann Kaspar Lavater, with whom he became close friends.
After taking orders in 1761, Fuseli was forced to leave the country as a result of having helped Lavater to expose an unjust magistrate, whose powerful family sought revenge. He travelled through Germany, and then, in 1765, visited England, where he supported himself for some time by miscellaneous writing. Eventually, he became acquainted with Sir Joshua Reynolds, to whom he showed his drawings. Following Reynolds' advice, he decided to devote himself entirely to art. In 1770, he made an art pilgrimage to Italy, where he remained until 1778, changing his name from Füssli to the more Italian-sounding Fuseli.
In early 1779, he returned to Britain, visiting Zürich on the way. In London, he found a commission awaiting him from Alderman John Boydell, who was then setting up his Shakespeare Gallery. Fuseli painted a number of pieces for Boydell, and supervised the first English edition of Lavater's work on physiognomy. He also gave William Cowper some valuable assistance in preparing a translation of Homer. In 1788, Fuseli married Sophia Rawlins (originally one of his models), and he soon after became an associate of the Royal Academy. In 1790, he became a full academician, presenting Thor Battering the Midgard Serpent as his diploma work. In 1799, Fuseli was appointed professor of painting to the Academy. Four years later, he was chosen as Keeper and resigned his professorship, but resumed it in 1810, continuing to hold both offices until his death. which, when at Rome, he liked to contemplate in the evening, relieved against a murky sky or illuminated by lightning. Rather than setting out his palette methodically in the manner of most painters, he merely distributed the colours across it randomly. He often used his pigments in the form of a dry powder, which he hastily combined on the end of his brush with oil, or turpentine, or gold size, regardless of the quantity, and depending on accident for the general effect. This recklessness may perhaps be explained by the fact that he did not paint in oil until the age of 25.
His sketches or designs numbered about 800; they have admirable qualities of invention and design and are frequently superior to his paintings. In his drawings, as in his paintings, his methods included deliberately exaggerating the proportions of the human body and throwing his figures into contorted attitudes. One technique involved setting down arbitrary points on a sheet, which then became the extreme points of the various limbs. He rarely drew figures from life, basing his art on study of the antique and Michelangelo.
He produced no landscapes—"Damn Nature! she always puts me out" was his characteristic exclamation—and painted only two portraits. William Blake was also inspired by him.
Death
After a life of uninterrupted good health, aged 84, and was buried in the crypt of St Paul's Cathedral. He was comparatively wealthy at the time of his death.