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Prince Arthur's Vision (Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I, ix, 13)

Engraver Peltro William Tomkins British
After Henry Fuseli Swiss
Publisher Thomas Macklin British
April 4, 1788
Not on view
Attracted to subjects that touch on the unconscious, Fuseli wrote, "One of the most unexplored regions of art are [sic] dreams" (Aphorism no. 231), and here represents Prince Arthur, from Edmund Spenser's "The Faerie Queen." The sleeping prince is visited by a vision of Gloriana, a poetic evocation of Elizabeth I, whom the artist imagines dressed in fashionable late-18th century garb and attended by spirits. The engraver Tomkins based the print on a painting Fuseli made for Macklin's Poets Gallery around 1788, now at the Kunstmuseum, Basel.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Prince Arthur's Vision (Edmund Spenser, The Faerie Queene, I, ix, 13)
  • Engraver: Peltro William Tomkins (British, London 1759–1840 London)
  • Artist: After Henry Fuseli (Swiss, Zürich 1741–1825 London)
  • Publisher: Thomas Macklin (British, 1752/53–1800 London)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: April 4, 1788
  • Medium: Stipple engraving and etching; published state
  • Dimensions: Plate: 21 1/16 × 15 7/8 in. (53.5 × 40.3 cm)
    Sheet: 23 1/4 × 18 7/16 in. (59 × 46.8 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gertrude and Thomas Jefferson Mumford Collection, Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942
  • Object Number: 42.119.356
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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