Portrait of a Lady

late 18th century

Henry Fuseli Swiss, 1741-1825

On View

European: Medieval and Renaissance, Level 2, West Wing

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About the Artwork

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Markings

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Provenance

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Exhibition History

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Published References

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Catalogue Raisonné

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Credit Line for Reproduction

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About the Artwork

Title Portrait of a Lady

Artwork Date late 18th century

Artist Henry Fuseli

Life Dates 1741-1825

Nationality Please note: Definitions for nationality may vary significantly, depending on chronology and world events. Some definitions include: Belonging to a people having a common origin based on a geography and/or descent and/or tradition and/or culture and/or religion and/or language, or sharing membership in a legally defined nation. Swiss

Culture Please note: Cultures may be defined by the language, customs, religious beliefs, social norms, and material traits of a group. Unknown

Medium Oil on canvas

Dimensions Unframed: 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm) Framed: 47 3/4 × 57 1/2 × 2 7/8 inches (121.3 × 146.1 × 7.3 cm)

Classification Paintings

Department European Painting

Credit Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Bert L. Smokler and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman

Accession Number This unique number is assigned to an individual artwork as part of the cataloguing process at the time of entry into the permanent collection. Most frequently, accession numbers begin with the year in which the artwork entered the museum’s holdings. For example, 2008.3 refers to the year of acquisition and notes that it was the 3rd of that year. The DIA has a few additional systems—no longer assigned—that identify specific donors or museum patronage groups. 55.5.B

Markings

Inscriptions ------

Provenance

until ca. 1845, Collection Sir Brooke Boothby (1744-1824) (Ashbourne Hall, Derbyshire, England). by 1879, Collection H. Haskett Smith Troweswell, Goudhurst,England)

May 9 1896, auction, lot 78, Viscount Eversley and other collections, Christie's (London, England). collection Earl of Harrowby (Stafford, England). by November 1947, dealer, Roland, Browse and Delbanco (London, England)

1950-1955, dealer, Durlacher Bros. (New York, New York, USA)

1955-present, purchase by the Detroit Institute of Arts (Detroit, Michigan, USA)

For more information on provenance and its important function in the museum, please visit:

Provenance page

Exhibition History

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The exhibition history of a number of objects in our collection only begins after their acquisition by the museum, and may reflect an incomplete record.

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Published References

Catalogue of the Valuable Collection of Ancient and Modern Pictures of the Right Hon. Viscount Eversley, Deceased; also the Celebrated Haskett Smith Collection of the Works of George Morland; also the Thomson Bonar Collection of Family Portraits, Formerly at Camden House, Chislehurst; and other Fine Works by F. Guardi and of the Early English School. Sales cat., Christie, Manson & Woods, London, May, 9, 1896, p. 16, no. 78.

Cummings, Frederick, Allen Staley and Robert Rosenblum. Romantic Art in Britain: Paintings and Drawings 1760-1860. Exh. cat., Detroit Institute of Arts. Detroit, 1968, no. 68, pp. 124–125, no. 68.

Charatan, Fred B. et al. "Fuseli's Nightmare." Journal of the American Medical Association 209, no. 9 (September 1, 1969): p. 1368.

Powell, N. Fuseli: The Nightmare. New York, 1973, pp. 5, 61, 74, 76, (col. pl and recto and verso ill.).

Schiff, Gert. Johann Heinrich Füssli: 1741–1825, 2 vols. Zurich, 1973, vol. 1: p. 496, no. 759; vol. 2: p. 198, no. 759 (ill.). [as "Porträt einer jungen Frau (vielleicht Anna Landolt?)"]

Johann Heinrich Fuseli. Petit Palais. Paris, 1975, no. 162 (col. cover ill. and recto and verso ill.).

Schiff, Gert and Paola Viotto. L'Opera completa di Füssli. Milan, 1977, pp. 94, no. 88b (ill.).

Gmelin, H.G. Birke, A. M., and K. Kluxen, eds. Die hannoverschen Hofmaler Ziesenis und Ramberg und ihre kunstlerischen Beziehungen zu Grossbritannien. Hannover, 1986, p. 188.

Hofmann, W. transl. from German by M. Couffon. Une époque en rupture 1750-1830. Paris, 1995, p. 184 (fig. 151).

Harris, James C. "The Nightmare." Archives of General Psychiatry 61, 5 (May 2004): pp. 429, 439-440. [mention of painting and photo]

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Catalogue Raisoneé

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Credit Line for Reproduction

Henry Fuseli, Portrait of a Lady, late 18th century, oil on canvas. Detroit Institute of Arts, Founders Society Purchase with funds from Mr. and Mrs. Bert L. Smokler and Mr. and Mrs. Lawrence A. Fleischman, 55.5.B.