Updated 07 March 2025
On Display Permanent collection
On Display
Theodore Meets in the Wood the Spectre of His Ancestor Guido Cavalcanti
| Date | c. 1783 |
|---|---|
| Materials and Techniques | oil on canvas |
| Size（cm） | 276 x 317 |
| Credit Line | Purchased |
| Standard ref. | Schiff 755 |
| Category | Paintings |
| Collection Number | P.1983-0001 |
Painted two years after the famous The Nightmare, this work can be considered one of the greatest of his early works. Füssli frequently quoted from the works of such British authors as Shakespeare, and this work draws its inspiration from Dryden's poem Theodore and Honoria, an adaptation of the "Story of Nastagio degli Onesti" from Boccacio's Decameron. The scene from Theodore and Honoria, shown here, recounts the story of Theodore, a young man from Ravenna, who, spurned by a cool reception from his beloved Honoria, sets out to walk through the forests on the edge of Ravenna. There he meets the specter of the suicide Guido Cavalcanti, who had also been coolly received by his lover. Guido sets ferocious dogs to attack his naked, fleeing lover. Here Füssli turns to the story by Boccacio that was the basis for Dryden's poem, creating a particularly striking image through Dryden's heightened drama and the use of solid figural types that were based on his study of antique sculpture. This work was created under a commission from the third Earl of Orford, George Walpole, for the decoration of his Norfolk estate, Horton Hall. It descended through the generations of the family, and was kept at Horton Hall until recent years. (Source: Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 2009, cat. no.57)
Provenance
Lord Orford, Houghton Hall; The Marquess of Cholmondeley, Houghton Hall; Purchased by the NMWA, 1983.
Exhibition History
- 1969
- Johann Heinrich Füssli (1741-1825), Paintings and Drawings, Kunsthaus, Zürich, 0 1969 - 0 1969, cat. no. 24
- 1974
- Johann Heinrich Füsseli, 1741-1825, Kunst um 1800, Kunsthalle, Hamburg, 0 1974 - 0 1975, cat. no. 71a
- 1983
- Henry Fuseli, National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 12 November 1983 - 18 December 1983, cat. no. 69, repr.
Bibliography
- 1857
- Cunningham, Allan. "Introduction, Historical and Critical". Pilkington, M. A General Dictionary of Painters. London, 1857, p. xc.
- 1860
- Thornbury, G. Walter. Fuseli at Somerset House. The Art Journal. New Series VI, 1860, p. 135.
- 1951
- Mason, Eudo C. The Mind of Henry Fuseli, Selections from His Writings with an Introductory Study. London, 1951, p. 36.
- 1959
- Schiff, Gert. Zeichnungen von Johann Heinrich Füssli. Schweizerisches Institut für Kunstwissenschaft, Zürich, 1959, no. 50.
- 1962
- Mason, Eudo C., ed. J. H. Füssli: Remarks on the Writing and Conduct of J. J. Rousseau - Bemerkungen über J. J. Rousseaus Schriften und Verhalten. Zürich, 1962, pp. 48-50.
- 1973
- Schiff, Gert. Johan Heinrich Füssli. 2 vols, Zürich/München, 1973, vol. 1, pp. 495-496, no. 755, pp. 120, 141, 376, vol. 2, pp. 194-195, pl. 755.
- 1977
- Schiff, Gert.; Viotto, Paola. L'opera completa di Füssli. Milano, 1977, no. 84, repr.
- 1980
- Schiff, Gert.; Viotto, Paola. Tout l'œuvre peint de Füssli. Paris, 1980, no. 84, repr.
- 1981
- Le Bris, Michel. Journal du Romantisme. Genève, 1981, p. 37, repr.
- 1982
- Weinglass, David H., ed. The Collected English Letters of Henry Fuseli. Millwood/London/Nendeln, 1982, p. 21.
- 1983
- Arikawa, Haruo. Theodore Meets the Spectre of Guido Cavalcanti by Henry Fuseli: Composition of Terror and Passion (Japanese). Henry Fuseli (exh. cat.). National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo, 1983, pp. 37-47.
- 1984
- Gazette des Beaux-Arts. ser. 6, tome 103, March 1984, "Chronique des Arts", p. 47, no. 292, repr.
- 1986
- Arikawa, Haruo. Theodore Meets the Spectre of Guido Cavalcanti by Henry Fuseli: Composition of Terror and Passion (English transl.). Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 18, (1983), 1986, pp. 21-47.
- 1986
- Annual bulletin of the National Museum of Western Art. No. 18 (1983), 1986, Catalogue of the New Acquisitions 1983, pp. 2, 12-13, col. repr.
- 1989
- Masterpieces of the National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1989 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 46, repr.
- 1990
- Catalogue of painting acquisitions: 1979-1989. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art, 1990, pp. 37-39, repr.
- 2009
- Masterpieces of The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The National Museum of Western Art; Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2009, no. 57, col. repr.
- 2013
- Masterpieces: The National Museum of Western Art, Tokyo. Tokyo, The Western Art Foundation, 2013 (Japanese, preface in Japanese and English), no. 72, col. repr.