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

Henry Fuseli

1770–78 · Pen and brown ink (recto); pen and ink over graphite (verso) · Drawings and Prints

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."

Artist

Henry Fuseli

Date

1770–78

Medium

Pen and brown ink (recto); pen and ink over graphite (verso)

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Gift of Jacqueline Loewe Fowler, 2020