.jpg?w=1)
拍品專文
Fuseli, who was born in Zürich in 1741, was the son of the portrait painter Johann Caspar Füssli. Despite this artistic grounding, Fuseli was encouraged to train for a career in the church and was ordained into the Zwinglian ministry in 1761. He was never to practise, however, publishing a pamphlet that exposed a corrupt Zürich magistrate, prompting his departure from the city to Berlin. There he was influenced by the German enlightenment which sought to free the creative consciousness from overly rationalistic thought.
In 1765 he moved to London where he met Sir Joshua Reynolds and on the strength of his draughtsmanship was encouraged to take up painting. Following eight years of study in Rome, Fuseli returned to London and soon became known for his Romantic scenes, painted in a pseudo-mannerist style. He frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy, of which he became a full member in 1790. The present work, painted in 1790, shows a scene from Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour, 1598 (I,v in the folio edition of 1616; I,iii in the quarto edition of 1605). Fuseli had already painted many scenes from Shakespeare, and according to the actor David Garrick, the London theatre had an impact on the artist 'like an operation for cataract'. Jonson, as Shakespeare's contemporary, would have had a similar appeal to Fuseli. First produced with Shakespeare in the cast, Every Man in his Humour was later made famous again by Garrick's successful and long-running adaptation, opened in 1751. It is plausible that Fuseli may have seen the actor in the role of Kitely at a later date. Jonson sought to embody in the characters of the play the four 'humours' of Mediaeval and Renaissance medicine - choler, melancholy, phlegm and blood, which were thought to determine human physical and mental disposition. In the present scene depicted by Fuseli, the character of Master Matthew visits Captain Bobadill in his lodgings. They decide to go to a neighbouring tavern and Bobadill, who is only just rising after a late night, dresses himself and asks Matthew if he has any money. It is an unusually comic scene for Fuseli to have chosen to paint, and he successfully imbues it with a sense of melodrama, heightened by the stylised gestures of the actors.
In 1765 he moved to London where he met Sir Joshua Reynolds and on the strength of his draughtsmanship was encouraged to take up painting. Following eight years of study in Rome, Fuseli returned to London and soon became known for his Romantic scenes, painted in a pseudo-mannerist style. He frequently exhibited at the Royal Academy, of which he became a full member in 1790. The present work, painted in 1790, shows a scene from Ben Jonson's Every Man in his Humour, 1598 (I,v in the folio edition of 1616; I,iii in the quarto edition of 1605). Fuseli had already painted many scenes from Shakespeare, and according to the actor David Garrick, the London theatre had an impact on the artist 'like an operation for cataract'. Jonson, as Shakespeare's contemporary, would have had a similar appeal to Fuseli. First produced with Shakespeare in the cast, Every Man in his Humour was later made famous again by Garrick's successful and long-running adaptation, opened in 1751. It is plausible that Fuseli may have seen the actor in the role of Kitely at a later date. Jonson sought to embody in the characters of the play the four 'humours' of Mediaeval and Renaissance medicine - choler, melancholy, phlegm and blood, which were thought to determine human physical and mental disposition. In the present scene depicted by Fuseli, the character of Master Matthew visits Captain Bobadill in his lodgings. They decide to go to a neighbouring tavern and Bobadill, who is only just rising after a late night, dresses himself and asks Matthew if he has any money. It is an unusually comic scene for Fuseli to have chosen to paint, and he successfully imbues it with a sense of melodrama, heightened by the stylised gestures of the actors.