Henry Fuseli

Painter of scenes of high drama from literature, history, and myth, often with erotic and supernatural elements. He was born Johann Heinrich Füssli, the son of a portrait painter in Zurich, Switzerland. After a brief career as a Zwinglian minister, he lived for periods in Berlin and London, pursuing studies in art theory and working as a translator. Encouraged by Joshua Reynolds, he decided to become an artist and spent the years 1770 to 1778 in Italy, where he immersed himself in the art of the past. He passionately admired the awe-inspiring, "Sublime" qualities of Michelangelo, whose work was to be his model for the rest of his career. He was back in Zurich in 1778-79, but from 1779 lived and worked permanently in London. Having been elected to the Royal Academy in 1790, he held the post of Professor of Painting from 1799 and Keeper from 1804.