The Haunted Eighteenth Century: Fuseli's 'The Nightmare'

Henry Fuseli’s painting The Nightmare, first exhibited at the Royal Academy in London in 1782, is one of the most famous images in the history of art. It has been reproduced, imitated and lampooned innumerable times – including satirical prints produced in the painter’s lifetime, copies and variations by other artists through the nineteenth century, and multiple versions of the image in modern mass media, cinema and popular culture. This talk will review how Fuseli’s image has been repurposed and remediated, focusing on how it has hovered between “high” and “low”, the legitimate and the countercultural. Fuseli’s art will be considered in relation to the eighteenth-century exhibitions spectacle, the culture of the Gothic and related to the broader fears and uncertainties about art and society on the eve of modernity.

No prior art historical knowledge is necessary.

Georgian Provocations Series II is convened by Martin Postle, Senior Research Fellow at the Paul Mellon Centre.

Registration via Eventbrite is required and opens on 16 September. This series will take place in person at the Paul Mellon Centre and will also be streamed live via Zoom Webinar.