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Lot Essay
Fuseli's first version of this subject dates back to his design for Willoughby's Family Bible, executed in the late 1760s. It was engraved by John June and is now in the Stockholm National Museum (Inv. no. 4/1976).
The present drawing is an illustration to the Bible, I Samuel, chapter 17, verse 49. Schiff gives the provenance as E.J. Shaw, dates the drawing to between 1794 and 1800, and suggests that the original pencil drawing may have been reinforced in ink, though similar reinforcements are quite common among Fuseli. Drawings illustrating a more complex treatment of the same subject are now in the City of Auckland Art Gallery (Schiff, op.cit., vol. I, p. 632, no. 1753, ill. vol. II, p. 562).
The fake William Blake signature is common to a number of works from the E.J. Shaw collection and is a fascinating example of the vagaries of truth.
The present drawing is an illustration to the Bible, I Samuel, chapter 17, verse 49. Schiff gives the provenance as E.J. Shaw, dates the drawing to between 1794 and 1800, and suggests that the original pencil drawing may have been reinforced in ink, though similar reinforcements are quite common among Fuseli. Drawings illustrating a more complex treatment of the same subject are now in the City of Auckland Art Gallery (Schiff, op.cit., vol. I, p. 632, no. 1753, ill. vol. II, p. 562).
The fake William Blake signature is common to a number of works from the E.J. Shaw collection and is a fascinating example of the vagaries of truth.