The Artist's Despair Before the Grandeur of Ancient Ruins is a red chalk and brown wash drawing made between 1778 and 1780 by the Swiss artist Henry Fuseli. It shows an artist overwhelmed before the fragmentary remains of the Colossus of Constantine, the giant ancient Roman statue held at the Capitoline Museums in Rome. The artist's despair may be caused by the impossibility of emulating the greatness of the past, by the knowledge that all things must decay, or by a sense of unfulfilled longing and dislocation, and distortions of perspective along the right edge conjure up a sense of nightmare. The drawing was acquired by the Kunsthaus Zurich in 1940.
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Source The Artist's Despair Before the Grandeur of Ancient Ruins (Wikipedia)
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Source The Artist's Despair Before the Grandeur of Ancient Ruins (Wikipedia)
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1. The Artist's Despair Before the Grandeur of Ancient Ruins (Wikipedia)
Lead section, first sentence
is a drawing in red chalk with brown wash executed between 1778 and 1780 by the Swiss artist Henry Fuseli
Lead, interpretation
The artist's despair may be caused by "the impossibility of emulating the greatness of the past", by the knowledge that all things must decay, or by a sense of unfulfilled longing and dislocation.
Lead, perspective
Distortions of perspective and the "plunge into the abyss" along the right edge conjure up a sense of nightmare.
Lead
is a drawing in red chalk with brown wash
In Form: Drawing, lead paragraph
The Artist's Despair Before the Grandeur of Ancient Ruins (German: Der Künstler verzweifelnd vor der Grösse der antiken Trümmer) is a drawing in red chalk with brown wash executed between 1778 and 1780 by the Swiss artist Henry Fu
Created By: Henry Fuseli, Lead sentence
The Artist's Despair Before the Grandeur of Ancient Ruins (German: Der Künstler verzweifelnd vor der Grösse der antiken Trümmer) is a drawing in red chalk with brown wash executed between 1778 and 1780 by the Swiss artist Henry Fuseli.
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