FUSELI, John Henry
(b. 1741, Zurich, d. 1825, London)

Silence

1799-1801
Oil on canvas, 63,5 x 51,5 cm
Kunsthaus, Zurich

In the Romantic period we encounter the man meditating on destiny in many works, right through to Auguste Rodin's The Thinker. Whenever the artist needed to express horror, incredulity, helplessness in the face of fate, we find the seated figure with his hollow gaze. In keeping with his style and temperament Fuseli intensified this expression in Ezzelin and Meduna, and even more in Silence (c. 1799-1801, Kunsthaus, Zurich).