Henry Fuseli’s painting, The Nightmare, was first displayed at the annual Royal Academy Exhibition in London 1782 which hosted approximately 50, 000 visitors to its showcase. Unlike many other paintings that were seen to be accessible and successful at the exhibition, Fuseli's painting shocked and frightened the attendants. According to most the painting was not in conformity with standards of taste and most importantly had no moralizing subject. The painting which demonstrates Fuseli’s broad knowledge of art history yielded many interpretations and in-depth intellectual investigations. Some of them especially, the critics saw it as a psychological precursor to Surrealist Art, and others argued that the drawing was a demonstration of the firmly planted practices and aesthetic ideals of that time. Thus, this paper delves into how Henry Fuseli’s, The Nightmare original contributions during the romantic period.
The Nightmare a 1781 oil painting by Henry Fuseli which at first presents a dark and a domestic interior scene. Darkness surrounds the room, and the central objects can only be seen through a spotlight that is pointed at them, and the space surrounding them is not clearly defined. At the center, a woman lies in a supine position, draped across in a ruffled and untidy bed. She appears to be asleep and unconscious from the way her head is loosely hanging down and the left arm swathing helplessly to the floor. On top of the woman’s chest sits a creature popularly described as an imp, a male mythological creature that sleeps with women to have sexual intercourse or to suffocate them(Frayling, & Heard, 2006). Moreover, the creature is also associated with a nightmare and sleep paralysis. In the background, a ghostly horse with flaming sharp eyes peeps through the heavy curtain.
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The exact meaning of the images and the events surrounding the painting remain elusive, as Fuseli did not reveal his precise intentions. However, Fuseli’s choice of style and imagery was influenced by the activities of “Age of Reason," a time when people had stopped in believing in dark and irrational forces. This period was characterized by various romantic ideals such as individualism, reverence for the natural world, physical and emotional passion, and an interest in mystic powers. Fuseli, thus, cultivates these romantic ideals in various ways in his drawing in the nightmare. The Renaissance artists or Shakespearean kings focused on painting, drawings, and writing that were specific dreams experienced by the old testament sages. This included the Castle of Otranto (1764) and the Trojan warriors.
In the Nightmare, Fuseli decided to go against the medieval imaginations and used a more contemporary version that did not exist before. The furniture in the painting was contemporary with the table top having some mysterious bottle that could be having things such as medicine or drinks. This kind of art piece did not have any recognizable literary or classical sources. Most of the attendants at the exhibition were left with many questions as to where the nobility of the works came from to what could be meaning of the works. One of the anonymous attendants went to the extent of confusing the horse at the background with a "Mara" instead of a "Mare." The mystery of the painting elicited and stimulated a lot of public interest and imagination which was the primary aim of romanticism ( Frayling& Heard, 2006).
At the center of his painting, there lies a voluptuous woman on the bed. The art is based on the ancient sculpture, but also a modern woman of the eighteenth century. At a closer look, the woman also lays in a very expressive pose. Fuseli must have been inspired to draw this kind of art because of his unequivocal love of a young woman, Anna Landholdt whom he wanted to marry, but the father was vehemently against the decision. In those times, Fuseli wished to express his feelings about what he felt about the woman. Similarly, he had numerous erotic footprints in his possession and was looking for a way to express them. Today, the painting is also perhaps primarily about sex- although if it precisely talks on women empowerment, submission or voyeurism is still under debate among art historians( Moreland & Rodriguez, 2015).
At the time of drawing his painting in the late 1770s, medical specialists were researching the physiological causes of nightmares including lack of enough circulation of blood and other factors. In the process of doing their research, medical analysts discovered that some of the symptoms that characterized nightmares included lying on one's back, violent oppression of the beast and loss of voluntary motion. Fuseli's painting portrays all these emotions with the imp supernatural character suffocating on the woman's chest showing the theme of violent oppression as her arms, hands, and head hang helplessly off the end of the mattress. Fuseli’s use of medical facts superimposed in folks tales was a way of enlightening people which is one of the essential romanticism ideals. Fuseli also utilized the sharply contrasting light and shadow as well as the curtains and tassels to portray the dark undertones that exist in the painting among them being horror and sexuality ( Moreland & Rodriguez, 2015). The use of the imp in the painting brings out the picture of the mythology folklores of women used to made pregnant by nocturnal fairies to the extent of giving birth to half-human children.
Over the years, the Nightmare has become an icon of Romanticism and Gothic horror, inspiring many other authors and artists, notably Mary Shelley and Edgar Allan. Mary Sheller in his novel the Frankenstein or the Modern Prometheus also talks of a creature that kills the wife of Victor, Elizabeth. At her deathbed, Elizabeth is described as lying lifeless and helplessly, across the bed with her head facing down the floor, and her face covered with hair. Edgar Allan in his story the fall of the House draws his inspiration from Fuseli mentioning Fuseli mythical creatures, death and unusual interest in the subconscious.
In conclusion, Henry Fuseli’s The nightmare offers various interpretations depending on the particular interests of the analyst as well as the perspectives of the historians who have authored it. As one of the attendants of the exhibition posits, The Nightmare -elicit a lot of imagination as one tries to figure out what the author wanted to portray. Today, the viewer or the analyst relates with the empathetic scene as they try to understand the experience of the woman of the nightmare. Thus, this paper has sought to understand how the Henry Fuseli, in the nightmare has contributed to romanticism ideals through imagination, reverence for the natural world, physical and emotional passion, and an interest in mystic powers.
References
Frayling, C., & Heard, M. (2006). The Nightmare: Fuseli and the Art of Horror. Gothic Nightmares: Fuseli, Blake and the Romantic Imagination , 43-51.
Moreland, C. T., & Rodriguez, K. (2015). Never Bet the Devil Your Head”: Fuseli's The Nightmare and Collapsing Masculinity in Poe's “The Black Cat. The Edgar Allan Poe Review , 16 (2), 204-220.
