[Born 1745. Died 1825. Aged 80.]
An artist of undoubted genius and originality, but very eccentric both
as painter and as man. Born at Zurich, where he cultivated learning with
great ardour, especially the literature of England; at the same time
took delight in copying the works of Michael Angelo and Raffaelle. Came
to England in 1763, and showed his paintings to Sir Joshua Reynolds, who
praised the work and recommended to the young aspirant the usual
pilgrimage to Rome. Obeying the command he remained for eight years in
the city of Art, and then came back to England where he worked his way
to honour. In 1790, he was Royal Academician; in 1799, Professor of
Painting; in 1804, Keeper of the Royal Academy. Fuseli was a good
scholar, endowed with a potent and wild imagination, and an excellent
anatomist; but he suffered his imagination to lead him into
extravagance, and his anatomy protruded itself in his pictures. He
painted, in 1798, a series of forty-seven pictures illustrative of
Milton. They reveal grand conception and daring power, but tremble
occasionally on the verge of the grotesque. No later artist has ventured
to follow him in his flights, but his profound interpretations of the
true spirit of poetry may be contemplated by all men with advantage.
[From the marble, by E. H. Baily, R.A. Executed for Sir Thomas
Lawrence, 1824.]