This canvas, first exhibited in 1799, was sold by the artist in 1808 to his biographer, John Knowles. It illustrates a passage from "Paradise Lost," II (622–666) in which the hellhounds surrounding Sin are compared to those who "follow the night-hag when, called, / In secret, riding through the air she comes, Lured with the smell of infant blood, to dance / With Lapland witches, while the laboring moon Eclipses at their charms." "Night-hag" is an epithet of the Greek goddess Hecate, who presided over witchcraft and magical rites.

Forthcoming

the artist, Henry Fuseli, London (1796–1808; sold to Knowles); John Knowles, London (1808–at least 1831); Boyd family, Penkill Castle, Girvan, Ayrshire, Scotland (until about 1920; given by Mrs. Boyd to Mrs. Smith); Mrs. Smith, Girvan (from about 1920); her son, M. Smith, Girvan (until 1980; sale, Sotheby's, London, July 9, 1980, no. 79, for £22,000 to a consortium of dealers); [Feigen, et al., New York, 1980; sold to MMA]

London. Pall Mall Gallery. "Milton Gallery," May 20–?July 31, 1799, no. VIII (as "Lapland Orgies," lent by the artist).

London. Pall Mall Gallery. "Milton Gallery," March 21, 1800–?, no. VIII (as "Lapland Orgies," lent by the artist).

Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. "Johann Heinrich Füssli: das verlorene Paradies," September 27, 1997–January 11, 1998, no. 33.

London. Tate Britain. "Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination," February 15–May 1, 2006, no. 91.

Henry Fuseli. Letter to William Roscoe. April 30, 1794 [published in Hugh Macandrew, "Selected Letters from the Correspondence of Henry Fuseli and William Roscoe of Liverpool," Gazette des beaux-arts 62, pér. 6 (October 1963), p. 212], as "Nighthag Visiting Lapland Witches"; lists it among pictures he has painted for the Milton Gallery.

Henry Fuseli. Letter to William Roscoe. August 9, 1796 [published in Hugh Macandrew, "Selected Letters from the Correspondence of Henry Fuseli and William Roscoe of Liverpool," Gazette des beaux-arts 62, pér. 6 (October 1963), pp. 214–15], as "Similes of the Nighthag visiting the Lapland witches".

Allan Cunningham. The Lives of the Most Eminent British Painters, Sculptors, and Architects. 2, 2nd ed. London, 1830, pp. 303–4, states that when Fuseli sold the picture to Knowles in 1808, the artist called it "one of my very best—yet no one has asked its price till now—it requires a poetic mind to feel and love such a work".

John Knowles. The Life and Writings of Henry Fuseli. London, 1831, vol. 1, pp. 208, 408, reprints the catalogue of the 1799 Milton Gallery exhibition; notes that the picture is now in his [Knowles's] possession.

G. Walter Thornbury. "Fuseli in Somerset House." Art-Journal 22 (May 1, 1860), pp. 135–36.

Laurence Binyon. Catalogue of Drawings by British Artists and Artists of Foreign Origin Working in Great Britain. 2, London, 1900, p. 172, catalogues a drawing as by Fuseli, calling it "The Night Hag" and noting that Fuseli painted the same subject (the MMA work) for his Milton Gallery.

Arnold Federmann. Johann Heinrich Füssli: Dichter und Maler, 1741–1825. Zürich, 1927, p. 171, as "Lapland Orgies, the hell-hounds round Sin".

Gert Schiff. Johann Heinrich Füsslis Milton-Galerie. Zürich, 1963, pp. 14, 18, 38, 144, 163, calls it lost.

Marcia R. Pointon. Milton & English Art. Toronto, 1970, pp. 110, 256, illustrates Fuseli's drawing "The Night Hag" (British Museum, London), suggesting that it was probably a study for the MMA picture [the drawing bears no resemblance to the MMA work, the composition of which was unknown at the time of Pointon's writing].

Gert Schiff. Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1741–1825. Zürich, 1973, vol. 1, pp. 649, 704, no. 35 under lost works.

Paola Viotto. L'opera completa di Füssli. Milan, 1977, p. 97, no. 127.

Seventeenth, Eighteenth, and Nineteenth Century British Paintings. Sotheby's, London. July 9, 1980, pp. 108–10, no. 79, ill. (color), as the property of a gentleman; states that "its appearance . . . at Penkill Castle must have been at the instigation of David Scott, who was influenced by Fuseli and who was a close friend of the Boyd family".

Lucy Oakley in The Metropolitan Museum of Art: Notable Acquisitions, 1980–1981. New York, 1981, p. 46, ill.

Lawrence Feingold. "Fuseli, Another Nightmare: 'The Night-Hag Visiting Lapland Witches'." Metropolitan Museum Journal 17 (1982), pp. 49–61, fig. 1.

Christoph Becker. Johann Heinrich Füssli: das verlorene Paradies. Exh. cat., Staatsgalerie Stuttgart. Stuttgart, 1997, pp. 22–23, 33–34, no. 33, ill. (color), dates it 1796; discusses contrasting views of the Night-Hag's character, noting that Milton views her as harmless, while popular folklore portrays her as dangerous, particularly at the time of the new moon.

Martin Myrone. Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake, and the Romantic Imagination. Exh. cat., Tate Britain. London, 2006, pp. 140–41, no. 91, ill. (color).

This picture was originally exhibited in 1799 in Fuseli's so-called Milton Gallery under the title "Lapland Orgies". It illustrates a simile in "Paradise Lost" (II:662–66) comparing the hounds of Hell surrounding Sin to those who "follow the Night-Hag, when call'd / In secret, riding through the Air she comes / Lur'd with the smell of infant blood, to dance / With Lapland Witches, while the labouring Moon / Eclipses at thir charms." Night-Hag is an epithet of the Greek goddess Hecate, who was identified with the moon and was regarded as presiding over witchcraft and magical rites. She was believed to ride the air by night, and was also associated with nightmares.

The Milton Gallery was Fuseli's attempt to rival John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, opened in 1789, and Thomas Macklin's Poets Gallery, opened in 1788.