Sketch for 'Dido on the Funeral Pyre' (recto); Erotic Sketch of Man and Woman (verso)
c. 1781
Henry Fuseli Swiss, active in England, 1741-1825
England
Dido, Queen of Carthage, was deserted by her lover Aeneas, a prince of Troy and a hero of the Trojan War. Devastated, she built a pyre to burn his possessions. Upon ascending the pyre and lamenting her cruel fate, Dido took her life with the sword she had given to Aeneas.
In this preparatory sketch for a painting, Fuseli hews closely to the story as recounted in the ancient Roman poet Virgil’s epic poem about Rome’s founding, the Aeneid. Dido’s sister Anna weeps at the dead queen’s feet, while Iris, sent by Juno, cuts a lock of her hair to free her soul from her body.
Oil paint over charcoal (recto), and black chalk (verso), on ivory laid paper