Sketch for "Oath on the Rütli" (recto), Female Figure (verso)

Henry Fuseli · 1779–81 (recto); 1785–90 (verso)

Medium

Oil on canvas

Original size

76 × 67.5 cm (29 15/16 × 26 9/16 in.); Framed: 79.4 × 69.3 cm (31 1/4 × 27 1/4 in.)

Currently held

Art Institute of Chicago

Movement

Rococo

This double-sided work offers a rare glimpse into Fuseli's creative process — a preparatory sketch for a heroic Swiss subject on one face, and a quietly rendered female figure on the other. Henry Fuseli was one of the most theatrically charged painters of the Romantic era, drawn to subjects of myth, legend, and moral drama. His figures tend to strain with tension, caught mid-gesture as if frozen at the height of some momentous act. The Rütli sketch belongs to his ongoing engagement with Swiss national history — the legendary founding oath of the Swiss Confederation, a subject that carried personal resonance for the Zürich-born artist who spent most of his career in London. Fuseli worked rapidly in these preparatory studies, using bold, gestural lines to lock in the compositional energy before committing to larger canvases. The verso's female figure, likely drawn a few years later, shows the quieter, more contemplative side of an artist better known for fury and spectacle. Our hand-painted oil reproduction faithfully translates both the urgency of the recto composition and the delicacy of the verso figure, preserving the tonal range and expressive weight of the original held at the Art Institute of Chicago.