Satan Defying the Powers of Heaven

late 1790s

Henry Fuseli

Artist, Swiss, 1741 - 1825

From below, we look up at a nude, muscular man striding from one dark gray boulder to another against a mist-gray background in this vertical drawing. The man’s right knee, to our left, is bent as he leans onto that leg. His other leg is stretched behind him so the foot reaches into the lower right corner of the sheet. The man holds his left arm, to our right, high with that hand in a fist, and he turns his head to look in that direction. A white drapery swirls up and behind the man’s shoulders. The background is mostly washes of muted, slate gray with a darker flint-gray area to the left. The man’s body is outlined lightly in graphite and chalk and more lines create a loose, angular grid across the background. The sheet has a crease across its middle.

Media Options

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Artwork overview

  • Medium

    graphite, black chalk, and brown and gray wash on laid paper

  • Credit Line

    Purchased as the Gift of Andrea Woodner

  • Dimensions

    sheet: 42.2 × 27.7 cm (16 5/8 × 10 7/8 in.)

  • Accession

    2015.10.1.a

Associated Artworks

From below, we look up at a nude, muscular man striding from one dark gray boulder to another against a mist-gray background in this vertical drawing. The man’s left knee, to our right, is bent as he leans onto that leg. His other leg is stretched behind him so the foot reaches into the lower left corner of the sheet. The man holds his right arm, to our left, high with his fingers outstretched, and he turns his head to look in that direction. The background is mostly washes of muted, nickel gray with a lighter, fog-gray washes in the bottom left quadrant. The man’s body is outlined lightly in graphite and chalk and shaded with pale peachy tan. The sheet has a discolored crease across the middle.

Satan Defying the Powers of Heaven

Henry Fuseli

1790


Artwork history & notes

Provenance

(sale, Christie's, New York, 29 January 2015, no. 91); (via Lowell Libson, London); purchased 2015 by NGA.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

2023

  • Drawing in Britain, 1700 - 1900: New Additions to the Collection, National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2023.

Bibliography

2016

  • Sell, Stacey. "Henry Fuseli, Satan Defying the Poowers of Heaven." _National Gallery of Art Bulletin no. 54 (Spring 2016): 24, repro.

Inscriptions

in graphite, lower center of sheet: P. C.

Watermarks

Strasburg Lily with monogram of initials ( J or I ) and T below.

Wikidata ID

Q64573765


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