Theodore Meets in the Wood the Specter of His Ancestor Guido Cavalcanti, Chasing with Mastiffs His Former Disdainful Mistress
1783
Medium
Charcoal with stumping, and brush and black wash, over graphite, on tan laid paper, laid down on off-white Japanese paper
Dimensions
32 × 66.4 cm (12 5/8 × 26 3/16 in.)
Classification
charcoal
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
116079
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
The story that Fuseli illustrated here concerns Theodore, a young nobleman of Ravenna rejected by the beautiful but proud Honoria, with whom he is infatuated. In despair, Theodore retires to his country estate where one day he encounters the ghost of his ancestor Guido Cavalcanti, a suicide condemned in the afterlife to perpetually chase, kill, and disembowel the woman who rejected his love. Honoria witnesses the scene, which transforms her feelings for Theodore. Fuseli’s source was the English...
About the Artist
Henry Fuseli · 1741–1825
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...