A Woman Sitting by the Window (“Evening Thou Bringest All”), from the first issue of Specimens of Polyautography

1803·Lithograph in black on cream wove paper, tipped onto mount with aquatint border in gray on cream wove paper·Image/primary support: 23.2 × 31.8 cm (9 3/16 × 12 9/16 in.); Secondary support: 37.2 × 49 cm (14 11/16 × 19 5/16 in.)

Specimens of Polyautography (published 1803), the portfolio of lithographs that included Fuseli’s print (as well as James Barry’s Eastern Patriarch and Benjamin West’s Angel of the Resurrection), contained the first lithographs published in Britain. Lithography is a form of printing in which a drawing is made directly on limestone, which is then moistened and inked, the ink adhering only to the drawn marks. The resulting print thus retains the immediacy of the original drawing. The Greek inscription on Fuseli’s print, a quote from the ancient Greek lyric poet Sappho which was reversed in the printing process, means “Evening, thou bringest all [things home].”

Catalogue

Year: 1803
Medium: Lithograph in black on cream wove paper, tipped onto mount with aquatint border in gray on cream wove paper
Dimensions: Image/primary support: 23.2 × 31.8 cm (9 3/16 × 12 9/16 in.); Secondary support: 37.2 × 49 cm (14 11/16 × 19 5/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Henry Fuseli

Artist

Henry Fuseli

Painting

Henry Fuseli was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his career in Britain.

Zurich, Switzerland

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Aided by Eeriboia, Hermes Carries Off the Exhausted Ares from the Sleeping Sons of Aloeus (recto); Sketch of One of the Sleeping Sons of Aloeus (verso)

1819 · Graphite and brush and black wash, with touches of charcoal (recto), and graphite (verso), on cream wove paper

WW-1819-100678