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Source Description
Henry Fuseli's lifelong interest in the work of the English poet John Milton (1608-1674) inspired many drawings that interpreted passages from Milton's epic poem <em>Paradise Lost</em> (1667). This early example illustrates the moment when the angels Ithuriel and Zephon discover Satan disguised as a toad in the bower where Adam and Eve are sleeping. Ithuriel forces Satan to reveal himself by prodding him with a spear. The lion in the background alludes to an earlier passage in the poem, when Satan takes on the shape of the beast in order to spy on the couple.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
131789
label
Satan Starts from the Touch of Ithuriel's Spear
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
131789
contentType
drawing
title
Satan Starts from the Touch of Ithuriel's Spear
description
Henry Fuseli's lifelong interest in the work of the English poet John Milton (1608-1674) inspired many drawings that interpreted passages from Milton's epic poem <em>Paradise Lost</em> (1667). This early example illustrates the moment when the angels Ithuriel and Zephon discover Satan disguised as a toad in the bower where Adam and Eve are sleeping. Ithuriel forces Satan to reveal himself by prodding him with a spear. The lion in the background alludes to an earlier passage in the poem, when Satan takes on the shape of the beast in order to spy on the couple.
date
1776
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q80023379
creators
1262
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 30.9 x 42.5 cm (12 3/16 x 16 3/4 in.); Secondary Support: 31 x 42.7 cm (12 3/16 x 16 13/16 in.)
cul
England, 18th century
accession
1954.365
Source extras
tec
pen and brown ink and brush and gray wash
tombstone
Satan Starts from the Touch of Ithuriel's Spear, 1776. Henry Fuseli (Swiss, 1741–1825). Pen and brown ink and brush and gray wash; sheet: 30.9 x 42.5 cm (12 3/16 x 16 3/4 in.); secondary support: 31 x 42.7 cm (12 3/16 x 16 13/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Dudley P. Allen Fund, 1954.365
supportMaterials
description
cream(2) laid paper, laid down on cream(2) modern? laid paper
collection
DR - British
inscriptions
inscription
inscribed, at lower center, in brown ink: Roma Oct. 76; at lower left, in brown ink: 17
didYouKnow
This drawing is one of three almost identical drawings depicting the same scene from <em>Paradise Lost</em>; the other sheets are in the collections of the National Gallery, Stockholm, and the British Museum, London.
citations
citation
Wartmann, Wilhelm. <em>Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1741-1825: zur Zweihundertjahrfeier und Gedächtnisausstellung.</em> Exh. Cat. Zürich: Kunsthaus Zürich, 1941.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 76, no. 240
citation
"Accessions of American and Canadian Museums." <em>Art Quarterly</em> 17 (Winter 1954): 412.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 412.
citation
<em>The World of Benjamin West</em>. Exh. Cat. Allentown, PA: Allentown Art Museum, 1962.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 76, no. 55
citation
Wartmann, Wilhelm. <em>Johann Heinrich Füssli, 1741-1825.</em> Zurich: Kunsthaus. 1969.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 74
citation
Schiff, Gert. <em>Johann Heinrich Füssli 1741-1825: Text und Oeuvrekatalog</em>. Zurich: Berichthaus, 1973.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 76, 110, 456, no. 483a
citation
Pressly, Nancy. <em>The Fuseli Circle in Rome: Early Romantic Art of the 1770s</em>. Exh. Cat. New Haven, CT: Yale Center for British Art, 1979.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 40, under no. 41
citation
Bjurström, Per. <em>Dürer to Delacroix: Great Master Drawings from Stockholm. </em>Exh. Cat. Fort Worth, TX: Kimbell Art Museum, 1985.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 84, no. 103
citation
<em>Important Old Master Pictures</em>. New York: Christie's: 1995.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 296-7, under no. N146
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. <em>British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: pp. 30-31, 145, no. 5
citation
Moster-Hoos, Jutta, ed. <em>Die Geister, die sie riefen...: Lust- und Angstphantasien von Horst Janssen und Johan Heinrich Füssli</em>. München: Hirmer, 2015.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 47, fig. 9; Mentioned: p. 48
catalogueRaisonne
Schiff 483a
creditline
Dudley P. Allen Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:47:31.921000
sourceId
131789
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
pen and brown ink and brush and gray wash
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
702d99a53550b5dd