Henry Fuseli, R.A.

With Spink-Leger, London;
from whom acquired by the late Jan Krugier, September 2000

Paris, Musée Jacquemart-André, La Passion du Dessin. Collection Jan Krugier et Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2002, no. 70;
New York, Richard L. Feigen & Co. and the Jan Krugier Gallery, The Third Eye: Fantasies, Dreams and Visions, 2005-6 (not numbered);
Munich, Hypo-Kulturstiftung, Das Ewige Auge - Von Rembrandt bis Picasso. Meisterwerke aus der Sammlung Jan Krugier und Marie-Anne Krugier-Poniatowski, 2007, no. 70

The medium is well preserved and bold. The paper has discoloured a little and there are several skilfully repaired tears at the extreme edges of the sheet. The lower left hand corner of the sheet has been re-built and there are other very minor restorations. Overall the condition is good.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

In this dramatic drawing, Fuseli illustrates a scene from The Divine Comedy, Dante's 14th-century epic poem in which he describes his journey through the Nine Circles of Hell.  Here, Fuseli places us in the darkness of the second circle. Out of the gloom spiral the naked forms of Francesca and Paolo, the doomed lovers who had been condemned to be buffeted by whirlwinds as a consequence of their adulterous love affair.  Dante appears twice, firstly listening to Francesca and Paolo’s story, while wrapped in a long cloak and then again, nude and splayed on the rocky ground, having fainted with sorrow and pity.

Fuseli had been introduced to Dante’s great work as a teenager by the distinguished Swiss critic Johann Jakob Bodmer (1698-1783) and its themes and stories continued to intrigue him sporadically throughout his life.  Between 1772 and 1818 he created six known oil paintings and seventeen surviving drawings which focused on the poem.  The present work is a study for a print, executed in etching and aquatint by Fuseli himself in 1818.¹  In the same year, he also exhibited an oil painting of this subject at the Royal Academy.  That painting was subsequently owned by Sir Thomas Lawrence, but is now lost.

We would like to thank Professor David Weinglass for his help in cataloguing this lot. 

1. G. Schiff, Johann Heinrich Fussli (1741-1825), Zurich/Munich 1973, no. 1537