Fuseli, Henry

Fuseli, Henry (1741-1825), was a Swiss-born painter and art critic and a leading member of the Romantic movement in painting. Many of Fuseli’s paintings explore the fantastic and the grotesque, notably The Nightmare (1781). Many of his best-known paintings illustrate works of the English authors William Shakespeare and John Milton.

The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli
The Nightmare by Henry Fuseli

Johann Heinrich Fuseli was born on Feb. 7, 1741, in Zurich, Switzerland. At the age of 22, he went to England. Later, he studied the Italian masters in Rome. Fuseli returned to England in 1778. In 1790, he became a member of the Royal Academy. He died on April 16, 1825.