Cathy's Art Diary

Intriguing exhibition at the Courtauld Gallery looking at drawings of women by Henry Fuseli. As ever at the Courtauld this was a scholarly presented show while still being clear and approachable. I was fascinated to see that he had been Keeper of the Premises when the Royal Academy was at Somerset House so had lived in the building he was now being shown in for about 30 years.   The first room looked at drawings of women with elaborate hairstyles, mainly his wife Sophie. These took on a fetishist quality and it seems his wife was as creative about arranging her hair as he was at drawing it. I think my favourite though was an amazing plainer portrait of her shown here which, I think, is one of the best portrait drawings I’ve ever seen. The second room looked at his drawings of Courtesan’s, again mainly with elaborate hair. Some of the finished works may have been done for sale to their clientele. I loved one drawn at the salon of a friend on an envelope of the, probably image...

Interesting online lecture from the Paul Mellon Centre for Studies in British Art in their Georgian Provocations series focusing on “The Nightmare” by Henry Fuseli. Martin Myrone, Head of Grants at Paul Mellon Centre and previously at Tate Britain, took us though the imagery in the painting and its reception at the time it was shown at the Royal Academy show of 1782. He looked at how quickly prints became available and it was copied by other artists. It was soon used by satirists and has become a cultural icon even to the present day. He explained how this was despite the fact the picture was in private ownership and not on view until the mid-20th century. Its fame was spread by via the prints and puns. The talk was followed by a lively Q&A session which brought up more interesting ideas such as whether the simplicity of the image allowed it to be lampooned easily, who owned it and why and how its vagueness has allowed for many interpretations.