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Haemon Discovering the Body of Antigone

Maker (Swiss, active in England, 1741 - 1825)
Additional Title(s)
  • Aimon
ClassificationsDRAWINGS
Date1800
Mediumbrush and black ink with watercolor and graphite on wovwe paper [Watman watermark]
Dimensionsimage: 16 1/2 × 11 5/8 in. (41.9 × 29.5 cm.) sheet: 18 7/8 × 12 in. (47.9 × 30.5 cm.)
InscribedInscribed: Aimon Verso: Pencil and watercolor sketch of a woman
MarkingsDate; Febr 1800
Credit LineThe Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens
Label TextFuseli’s interest in classical Greek tragedy inspired this drawing of a scene from Antigone by Sophocles. In the play’s conclusion, the body of Antigone, who has been sealed in a cave and left to die by King Creon of Thebes, is discovered by her betrothed, Haemon, Creon’s son. Fuseli selects the climactic moment when Creon enters the cave to see Haemon draw his sword and take his own life in reaction to Antigone’s death. Dramatic lighting focuses attention on the action, while expressive gestures drawn from theater, such as Creon’s outstretched arms, heighten the emotional intensity (2022).

Status
Not on view
Object number000.98
Terms
    Siegfried Overcoming Alberich
    Henry Fuseli
    1805 (?)
    Object number: 57.14
    Antigone Discovered Burying the Dead Body of Polyneseus
    Frederick Richard Pickersgill
    n.d.
    Object number: 69.45
    Study for David Baird Discovering Body of Tipoo Sahib
    David Wilkie
    n.d.
    Object number: 84.28
    David Baird Discovering Body of Tipoo Sahib
    David Wilkie
    1837
    Object number: 69.64
    Family Discovering the Body of a Drowned Seaman
    Richard Westall
    n.d.
    Object number: 71.66
    Johann Jacob Bodmer
    Henry Fuseli
    n.d.
    Object number: 64.7
    Venus and Cupid
    Henry Fuseli
    n.d.
    Object number: 59.55.547
    Ixion Worshipping Hera Disguised as a Cloud
    Henry Fuseli
    n.d.
    Object number: 59.55.546
    Woman with a Diadem
    Henry Fuseli
    n.d.
    Object number: 82.186.5
    Hercules and the Cretan Bull
    Henry Fuseli
    n.d.
    Object number: 000.61
    Una and the Lion
    Henry Fuseli
    n.d.
    Object number: 63.52.85