CIRCLE OF HENRY FUSELI (c.1770-1780)

 
'CARITAS'
Or possibly 'Medea contemplating the murder of her children'
 
 
Black chalk & oil on brown-tinted laid paper
24.5 x 19 cm | 9.6 x 7.5 in
 
 
PROVENANCE
Private collection, Scotland
 
 
 
 
 
When this was work was examined by Henry Wyndham and Peter Nahum on the BBC television show 'The Antiques Roadshow', it was deemed to be by Henry Fuseli and to depict the embodiment of 'Charity' (generally titled 'Caritas'). [1] The attribution, perhaps given somewhat incautiously, does nevertheless make good sense: the Michelangesque figures and their proportions, coupled with the very characterful and graphic facial type of the central larger figure, immediately call to mind the work of both Fuseli and several of his acolytes active in Rome in the 1770s and afterwards. 
 
 
A conclusive attribution remains elusive for the moment, though James Northcote R.A. (1746-1831) has recently been proposed as a possibility. Northcote is known to have painted a 'Medea Making her Incantation after the Murder of her Children', and our sheet could indeed depict this subject, which was exhibited at the Royal Academy show in 1772, and he is also known to have made two oil sketches (all now lost) depicting 'Medea contemplating the Murder of her Children'. [2] Another artist in the circle grouped loosely around Fuseli who treated that subject is George Romney, though no drawings by him resemble ours in either their choice of media or their technique, likely ruling him out as a candidate.
 
 
 
The figures undoubtedly owe a considerable debt to Michelangelo and the Sistine Ceiling, and are something of a synthesis of the 'Ancestors of Christ' (sometimes called 'The Patriarchs'). These figures, who together comprise a comparatively lesser-known section of the famous fresco cycle, can be found in the eight spandrels of the side walls of the Chapel, between the thrones of the Prophets and Sibyls and above the lunettes. Several of these figures rest their heads in their hands, as the present sheet depicts, a pose which does not feature in Michelangelo's oil paintings of similar figural groups such as the various Holy Family tondi. Fuseli was fascinated by the 'Ancestors' and referred to them at length in his own theory and adapted them for his own drawings and paintings, as well as sketching several studies after them, [3] [4] viewing these figures as 'embodiments of sublime sentiments'. [5]