Sketch for "Oath on the Rütli" (recto), Female Figure (verso)
1779–81 (recto); 1785–90 (verso)
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
76 × 67.5 cm (29 15/16 × 26 9/16 in.); Framed: 79.4 × 69.3 cm (31 1/4 × 27 1/4 in.)
Classification
oil on canvas
Department
Painting and Sculpture of Europe
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
59989
Rights
Public Domain
Art Historical Context
This double-sided oil sketch by Henry Fuseli captures the artist’s deep engagement with dramatic historical narratives and the human form. The recto, painted between 1779 and 1781, is a preparatory study for Fuseli’s larger composition *Oath on the Rütli*, which depicts the legendary founding moment of the Swiss Confederacy. As a Swiss-born artist working in Britain, Fuseli drew on his own cultural heritage to explore themes of unity and resistance, using bold gestures and intense lighting to heighten the emotional weight of the oath-taking scene. The verso, created several years later, prese...
About the Artist
Henry Fuseli
Henry Fuseli (1741-1825), born Johann Heinrich Füssli in Zürich, was a Swiss-British painter whose visionary works exploring dreams, nightmares, and psychological terror made him one of the most original figures of the Romantic movement. His art bridged Neoclassical discipline with Romantic emotionalism, creating images of supernatural intensity that would influence artists from William Blake to t...