1794
oil
canvas
From the collection of Art Institute of Chicago
Milton Dictating to His Daughter is a 1794 oil by Henry Fuseli, a British Romanticism work, held at Art Institute of Chicago.
You see a blind poet, John Milton, dictating to his daughter. She writes down his words while another woman sews and listens. This painting is interesting because it shows how the artist used light and shadow to create drama, like the cool light on the women's faces and the deep shadows around Milton. The artist played with light to make the scene feel intense. The women's faces are lit up, but Milton's face is in shadow, which makes him seem mysterious. You can learn more about this kind of lighting by looking into the technique: chiaroscuro.
This painting by Swiss artist Henry Fuseli depicts 17th-century English poet John Milton, who became blind in his 40s, dictating his epic poem Paradise Lost . His daughter transcribes his words while another woman listens intently as she sews. A forerunner of the Romantic Movement, Fuseli created drama through chromatic contrast. A cool light illuminates the rosy-cheeked women and casts deep shadows around Milton’s ghostly figure and face. Fuseli created this painting for his Milton Gallery, a self-run enterprise that showcased the artist’s Milton-inspired works. While this entrepreneurial…
Sent by the artist to William Roscoe, Liverpool, in 1800, apparently in exchange for funds already advanced by Roscoe [Weinglass 1982, pp. 217-18, 224]; sold by Roscoe before August 20, 1802, possibly to John Stuart, 1st marquess of Bute (d. 1814) [see Weinglass 1982, p. 250 for the sale of this and three other paintings, and Warner 1996, p. 219 n. 4 for the likelihood that Bute was the buyer]. In the possession of his grandson, John Crighton-Stuart, 2nd marquess of Bute, by 1831 [Knowles 1831, vol. 1, p. 221 lists Bute as the owner of this painting]. Ernest Permain, London, 1930, possibly on…
London, Christie’s Great Rooms, The Milton Gallery, 1799–1800, no. 40. Zurich, Kunsthaus, Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1741–1825, 1969, no. 52. Milwaukee, University of Wisconsin, John Milton, Related Art, 1974 (no cat.). Stuttgart, Staatsgalerie Stuttgart, Johann Heinrich Füssli. Das verlorene Paradies, September 27, 1997–January 11, 1998, cat. 85. Zurich, Kunsthaus Zurich, Füssli: The Wild Swiss, October 14, 2005- January 8, 2006, no. 185. Kunstmuseum Basel, Fuseli. Drama and Theatre, October 20, 2018-February 17, 2019.
Read the full account in the museum source.
Henry Fuseli was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his career in Britain.
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