Johann Heinrich Fuseli R.A.

Barry Miller, London, by 1973;
With Galleria Gallatea, Turin;
Private collection, Turin;
From whom acquired by the present owner. 

G. Schiff, Henry Fuseli 1741 – 1825, Zürich 1973, vol. I, cat. no. 887, p. 515, reproduced, vol. II, p. 243 (with incorrect dimensions);
P. Viotto and G. Schiff, Tout l’œuvre peint de Füssli, Paris 1980, p. 96, cat. no. 118, reproduced, p. 95 (with incorrect dimensions).

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work on canvas has an old lining. The paint layer is stable, and the lining seems serviceable. The varnish is very uneven. The painting is probably clean, but the varnish is unattractive. There are very few retouches visible under ultraviolet light, and what there are may be remnants of an earlier campaign of restoration that was mostly removed in the more recent cleaning. There may be small restorations beneath the standing figure's left foot, and there is some thinness in the floor. There is slight weakness to the glazes of the shadowed areas of the standing figure's coat. In general, given this artist's use of transparent glazes, the condition can be considered very good. However, the varnish should be changed and a few tiny careful retouches could be employed to very slightly reduce some thinness here and there.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

In this expressive and freely executed painting Fuseli brings to life a scene from Edward Young’s 1721 play The Revenge. Fuseli utilizes his deep knowledge and fascination with contemporary literature towards illustrating a highly charged and dramatic scene. The play tells the story of a Moor, Zanga, who vows vengeance on his Spanish master and enslaver, Don Alonzo, who killed Zanga’s father the Moorish king. Zanga cunningly turns Alonzo against his own love, Leonore, with the help of Leonore's maid, Isabella. Fuseli illustrates a moment from Scene II in the play, in which Leonore discovers Alonso’s dagger, thus adding to the heightening mistrust between the lovers.

The compositional type is reminiscent of one of Fuseli's most famous paintings, The Nightmare (Detroit Institute of Arts) which places the female protagonist in a highly expressive and open pose as she confronts impending danger.

The picture functioned as the model for William Leney’s engraving which accompanied the play's publication in Bell’s British Theatre (1793).