Henry Fuseli

Born in Zurich in 1741 as Johann Heinrich Fussli, Henry Fuseli became one of the most striking and unusual artists working in Britain. He left Switzerland after early political trouble, spent time in Germany, and eventually settled in London, where he built a reputation as a painter, draftsman, and writer on art.

Fuseli is remembered for intense, dramatic images filled with supernatural scenes, literary subjects, and bold, exaggerated figures. He drew inspiration from Shakespeare, Milton, and classical mythology, and his most famous work, The Nightmare, remains one of the best-known images of horror and fantasy in European art.

Alongside his painting, he was active in the art world as a teacher and later a professor at the Royal Academy. His imaginative style stood apart from many of his contemporaries, and his work would go on to influence later artists interested in emotion, dreams, and the strange corners of the human mind.