Lot Essay
The drawing comes from the first of the four pages in Miss Moore's album to be inscribed by her 'Sir Harry Englefield's'. For Englefield see lot ...
The figure is taken from Michelangelo's fresco of 'Esther and Haman' on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Rome, though interestingly, the figure is slighly turned, as if a sculpture, to show the whole of Haman's face from a different angle unobscured by his left arm. The figure also appears, even more freely adapted, in lot ... p. 30, while there is also a direct copy in pencil and watercolour, S. 1485.
The signature 'H. Fussli', with what appears to be the dot of an 'i' over the second 's', seems to represent a compromise between the original German spelling of Fuseli's name, 'Füssli', and that adopted for other drawings executed in Rome such as lots ....., 'Fusili'.
Sir Henry Charles Englefield, Bart. (1752-1822) was an antiquary and scientifci writer. A Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the Society of Antiquaries and the Dilettanti Society, he published a large number of books and papers on a wide range of subjects including astronomy, topography, Roman antiquities, ecclesiastical architecture, and the phase of Catholics in England. His paper on the 'Discovery of Lake from Maddles' won a gold medal from the Society of Arts. He corresponded with Fuseli over his collection of Antique vases in 1803 (see Weinglass 1982, pp. 272-8, 555) and was a personal friend. In December 1805 Fuseli lent a picture to him as the result of a bet (Weinglass 1982, p. 330). The use of 'Harry' for 'Henry' in Harriet Moore's inscription suggests a fairly close relationship between him and the Moore family also
The figure is taken from Michelangelo's fresco of 'Esther and Haman' on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, Rome, though interestingly, the figure is slighly turned, as if a sculpture, to show the whole of Haman's face from a different angle unobscured by his left arm. The figure also appears, even more freely adapted, in lot ... p. 30, while there is also a direct copy in pencil and watercolour, S. 1485.
The signature 'H. Fussli', with what appears to be the dot of an 'i' over the second 's', seems to represent a compromise between the original German spelling of Fuseli's name, 'Füssli', and that adopted for other drawings executed in Rome such as lots ....., 'Fusili'.
Sir Henry Charles Englefield, Bart. (1752-1822) was an antiquary and scientifci writer. A Fellow of the Royal Society and a member of the Society of Antiquaries and the Dilettanti Society, he published a large number of books and papers on a wide range of subjects including astronomy, topography, Roman antiquities, ecclesiastical architecture, and the phase of Catholics in England. His paper on the 'Discovery of Lake from Maddles' won a gold medal from the Society of Arts. He corresponded with Fuseli over his collection of Antique vases in 1803 (see Weinglass 1982, pp. 272-8, 555) and was a personal friend. In December 1805 Fuseli lent a picture to him as the result of a bet (Weinglass 1982, p. 330). The use of 'Harry' for 'Henry' in Harriet Moore's inscription suggests a fairly close relationship between him and the Moore family also