Theodore Meets in the Wood the Spectre of His Ancestor Guido Cavalcanti

This 1783 painting of Theodore meeting the spectre in the wood by Henry Fuseli illustrates a tale from Boccaccio's Decameron. Fuseli, born Johann Heinrich Füssli in Zurich in 1741, became one of the most original and visionary painters in British art, specializing in literary and supernatural subjects. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays Michelangelesque muscular figures in extremis, supernatural and nightmare subjects, violent foreshortening, dark Gothic atmosphere, theatrical excess.

The supernatural scene demonstrates Fuseli's dramatic use of light and shadow to create an atmosphere of terror and the uncanny. The artist's command of composition and surface quality reflects years of disciplined practice and keen artistic sensibility.