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The Weird Sisters (Shakespeare, MacBeth, Act 1, Scene 3)

March 10, 1785
Not on view
Smith’s mezzotint reproduces Fuseli’s striking conception of the witches as first encountered by Macbeth and Banquo in Shakespeare’s play (act 1, scene 3), prompting Banquo to ask:
"What are these
So wither’d and wild in their attire, That look not like the inhabitants o’ the earth,
And yet are on’t?.../ You seem to understand me, By each at once her chappy finger laying /
Upon her skinny lips . . ."
After a seven-year sojourn in Rome, Fuseli settled in London in 1779 and became known for painting imaginative and disturbing subjects. The overlapping, profile presentation of the witches echoes classical reliefs, but their features, gestures, and flying skull-headed companion demonstrate an equal familiarity with macabre precedents in the work of Italian painters such as Domenico Veneziano and Salvator Rosa.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: The Weird Sisters (Shakespeare, MacBeth, Act 1, Scene 3)
  • Engraver: John Raphael Smith (British, baptized Derby 1751–1812 Doncaster)
  • Artist: After Henry Fuseli (Swiss, Zürich 1741–1825 London)
  • Publisher: John Raphael Smith (British, baptized Derby 1751–1812 Doncaster)
  • Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: March 10, 1785
  • Medium: Mezzotint
  • Dimensions: sheet: 18 1/16 x 21 7/8 in. (45.8 x 55.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1959
  • Object Number: 59.570.361
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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