Creator of Nightmares

Henry Fuseli’s Art and Life

Christopher Baker

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Hardback

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English

Reaktion Books
01 March 2025

Art & design styles: Romanticism; Individual artists, art monographs

Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) was one of the eighteenth century's most provocative and inventive artists. He is best known for his painting The Nightmare, which created a new form of terrifying gothic imagery for the Romantic age. This engaging study of the artist's career unveils Fuseli's complexities, navigating contradictions between literary and painted works, sacred and secular themes, and traditional patronage versus the new era of competitive exhibitions and intense criticism. Plotting Fuseli's trajectory from Zurich to Paris, Rome and ultimately London, where he secured long-lasting fame, the artist is revealed as an astute publicity seeker and self-proclaimed genius who transformed himself from a priest to an Enlightenment writer, a 'mad' mercurial force in the art world, and finally a revered teacher.

By: Christopher Baker
Imprint: Reaktion Books
Country of Publication: United Kingdom
Dimensions: Height: 234mm, Width: 168mm,
Weight: 454g
ISBN: 9781789149302
ISBN 10: 1789149304
Pages: 192
Publication Date: 01 March 2025
Audience: General/trade , ELT Advanced
Format: Hardback
Publisher's Status: Active

Introduction 1 Origins in Zurich 2 A European Man of Letters 3 The Impact of Rome 4 The Nightmare 5 The Vagaries of Fame 6 Creative Friendships 7 Legacies References Select Bibliography Acknowledgements Photo Acknowledgements Index

Christopher Baker is editor of the Burlington Magazine and an honorary professor at the University of Edinburgh. He is a former director at the National Galleries of Scotland.

Reviews for Creator of Nightmares: Henry Fuseli’s Art and Life

A highly readable representation, richly illustrated and wonderfully well balanced. * Werner Busch, Professor of Art History, Freie Universität Berlin * The Nightmare (1781) is one of the most recognisable paintings in art history, but, Baker notes, its creator is more of a mystery. Here, he makes a case for Fuseli being ‘one of the most provocative, inventive and fascinating artists’ of the late 18th century. * Apollo *