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Henry Fuseli

Head of a Lady, ca. 1810-1815

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Henry Fuseli, 1741-1825, Swiss

Title

Head of a Lady

Year

ca. 1810-1815

Medium

Black chalk on laid paper

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • chalk

Supports

  • White coarse fibered paper

Dimensions

40.6 x 23.5 cm (16 x 9 5/16 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Stamped on recto UR with collector's mark of Susan North (1797-1884; Lugt 1947)

Type

  • Works on Paper,
  • Drawings and Watercolors

Credit

Museum Purchase: Anonymous gift

Object Number

57.118

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Drawing Closer

March 12 - September 4, 2022

The subject of this portrait has traditionally been identified as Henry Fuseli’s wife, Sophia Rawlins, who worked as an artist’s model. In his drawings of women, Fuseli often distorted the proportions—as seen in the very elongated neck in this sheet—or depicted his subjects with fantastical headdresses and hairstyles. For these reasons, it is often unclear to what extent his intense depictions were based on observations he made from life.

The Age of Canova

November 6 - December 15, 1957

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is Head of a Lady with the accession number of 57.118. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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