Menelaus and Patroclus, after the Antique (recto and verso)

1770–78

Not on view

Fuseli here shows the Greek king Menelaus mourning a fallen fellow warrior, basing the image on a Roman sculpture preserved in Florence in the Loggia dei Lanzi—the artist visited the city in 1770 on his way to Rome and again on his way north in 1778. During this long Italian sojourn, Fuseli regularly mined history and poetry for dramatic subjects, and devised poses inspired by classical and Renaissance art. Here, he altered his sculptural source to accentuate the tragic death of a young Greek in battle with the Trojan prince Hector—an encounter described in Homer’s "Illiad."

Artwork Details

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Title: Menelaus and Patroclus, after the Antique (recto and verso)
Artist: Henry Fuseli (Swiss, Zürich 1741–1825 London)
Date: 1770–78
Medium: Pen and brown ink (recto); pen and ink over graphite (verso)
Dimensions: Sheet: 9 7/16 in. × 7 in. (24 × 17.8 cm)
Classification: Drawings
Credit Line: Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020
Object Number: 2021.16.30a, b
Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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Falstaff with Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page (Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 5, Scene 5), Henry Fuseli Swiss, Pen and brown ink over faint graphite — Falstaff with Mrs. Ford and Mrs. Page (Shakespeare, The Merry Wives of Windsor, Act 5, Scene 5)
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