HENRY FUSELI ESQ^re

Engraved by Deane from a Painting by Harlow

London, Published by Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1830.

THE LIFE

AND

WRITINGS

OF

HENRY FUSELI, Esq. M.A. R.A.

KEEPER, AND PROFESSOR OF PAINTING TO THE
ROYAL ACADEMY IN LONDON; MEMBER OF THE FIRST CLASS
OF THE ACADEMY OF ST. LUKE AT ROME.

THE FORMER WRITTEN, AND THE LATTER EDITED BY

JOHN KNOWLES, F.R.S.

CORRESPONDING MEMBER OF THE PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY AT ROTTERDAM,

HIS EXECUTOR.

"Animo vidit, ingenio complexus est, eloquentiâ illuminavit."
Velleius Paterculus in Ciceronem.

IN THREE VOLUMES.

VOL. I.

LONDON:

HENRY COLBURN AND RICHARD BENTLEY,

NEW BURLINGTON STREET.

MDCCCXXXI.

LONDON:

PRINTED BY SAMUEL BENTLEY,

Dorset-street, Fleet-street.

TO

THE RIGHT HONORABLE

SUSAN,

COUNTESS DOWAGER OF GUILFORD,

BARONESS NORTH AND GUILFORD.

MADAM,

I feel a degree of diffidence in dedicating to your Ladyship the Lifeand Posthumous Works of Henry Fuseli; because, with regard to theformer, no one is better acquainted with the extent of his talents, orcan form a more accurate opinion of the powers of his conversation, andthe excellent qualities of his head and heart, than yourself. In givingsome account of his life and pursuits, I have endeavoured to speak ofhim as he was, and to become his[iv] "honest chronicler." How far I havesucceeded, it is for your Ladyship to form a judgment. Had it everoccurred to me, during his lifetime, that it would be my lot to becomehis Biographer, I should have kept a Journal, and thus have been enabledto present to you, and to the world, a more copious and rich view of hiscolloquial powers. But as this is not the case, if the Memoir bring toyour remembrance the general power of his genius, or give an adumbrationof his professional merit; if it convey impressions of his profoundclassical attainments and critical knowledge, and recall with them thesimplicity of his domestic habits, my end is fully answered.

It is not for me to make an apology for sending to the public, under thehigh support of your Ladyship's name, the posthumous works of my friend;as these, I know, will be acceptable to you; and many of them havealready received the highest encomiums, when delivered as Lecturesbefore the Members of the Royal Academy of Arts.

[v]

I am fully certain that if the mind which dictated these works, couldnow be conscious of the fact, no circumstance would give to it greatersatisfaction, than the knowledge of their appearing under the sanctionof your patronage.

I have the honour to subscribe myself,

Madam,

Your Ladyship's most obedient,
And obliged humble servant,

JOHN KNOWLES.

4, Osnaburgh Street, Regent's Park,
...