Circle of Henry Fuseli RA A Rampaging Giant

An original early 19th-century pen & ink drawing, Circle of Henry Fuseli RA, A Rampaging Giant.

This dramatic ink and wash drawing shows the figure of a giant wielding a tree trunk held aloft, with two diminutive figures below. Possibly a representation of the biblical encounter between David and Goliath, the subject is of a type favoured by the Swiss-English artist Henry Fuseli RA (1741–1825), who had a taste for the supernatural.

Fuseli's figures were described by his friend Johann Casper Lavater: 'Fury and force, an energy uniformly supported, and ever active—this is what distinguishes most of the figures and compositions of this masculine genius. Spectres, Demons, and madmen; fantoms, exterminating angels; murders and acts of violence—such are his favourite subject' (Essays on Physiognomy, 1789–98).

This drawing uses chiaroscuro—like Fuseli did—to effect a sense of dramatic tension: the dark vision punctuated with light, highlighting the giant's fordible physique, the figure of his diminutive combatant, and a hopeful suggestion of distant light behind the scene's looming foliage.

In black ink with grey and red wash and touches of white bodycolour on wove paper. For Fuseli working in grey and red wash see British Museum drawing 1973,0120.10.

There is a pencil sketch on the verso of a hand holding cherries.

Historically conservation mounted on to cream wove paper.

Provenance: Covent Garden Gallery.