Milton Dictating to His Daughter
Henry Fuseli·1794
Historical Context
Fuseli's Milton Dictating to His Daughter from 1794 depicts the blind English poet John Milton dictating Paradise Lost to his daughters — a subject that combined literary celebration with the pathos of disability and the drama of artistic creation. Milton's blindness, which struck him when he was forty-four, did not prevent him from composing his greatest works by dictating to his daughters and a series of secretaries. Fuseli was among the most ardent admirers of Milton in British culture — he proposed a Milton Gallery analogous to the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery — and his multiple paintings of Milton subjects expressed a genuine intellectual identification with the epic poet's visionary ambition.
Technical Analysis
Fuseli's technique combines dramatic chiaroscuro with expressive figural distortion. The composition contrasts Milton's monumental, inspired figure with the attentive daughter, using strong lighting to suggest the poet's inner vision. The palette is dark and atmospheric, with the illuminated figures emerging from shadow with theatrical intensity.
Provenance
Sent by the artist to William Roscoe, Liverpool, in 1800, apparently in exchange for funds already advanced by Roscoe [Weinglass 1982, pp. 217-18, 224]; sold by Roscoe before August 20, 1802, possibly to John Stuart, 1st marquess of Bute (d. 1814) [see Weinglass 1982, p. 250 for the sale of this and three other paintings, and Warner 1996, p. 219 n. 4 for the likelihood that Bute was the buyer]. In the possession of his grandson, John Crighton-Stuart, 2nd marquess of Bute, by 1831 [Knowles 1831, vol. 1, p. 221 lists Bute as the owner of this painting]. Ernest Permain, London, 1930, possibly on consignment; offered for sale, G. and L. Bollag, Zurich, March 28, 1930, no. 56, pl. VII, bought in [letter of January 24, 1994 from Max Bollag to Malcolm Warner in curatorial file]; sold in London to Galerie Bollag, Zurich, March 10, 1932 [according to letter of Max Bollag cited above and another of December 15, 1993]; private collection of Léon Bollag (d. 1958), Zurich; his estate; then, from 1968, his son Max Bollag, Zurich [according to letters cited above]; sold by him to E. V. Thaw and Co., New York, by February 1973; sold to the Art Institute, 1973.
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