Watermark: J Whatman / 1801.
Fuseli first began to illustrate the Nibelungenlied, a medieval German epic poem of more than 2,000 stanzas, around 1800. He would continue to produce works based on this legend, including drawings, paintings, and even a poem, until 1820. The episode depicted here shows Kriemhild mourning the death of her husband, Siegfried. Fuseli is subjective in his interpretation of the scene and includes three female figures--meant to embody Kriemhild's feelings of guilt for having caused the death of her husband--who torment her in her grief. -- Exhibition Label, from "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection"
Ford, Brinsley, former owner.
Spector, Stephen, 1946- former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
The Morgan Library & Museum, New York, NY, "Drawn to Greatness: Master Drawings from the Thaw Collection", 2017. Exh. cat., no. 140, repr.
Denison, Cara D. et al. The Thaw Collection : Master Drawings and New Acquisitions. New York : Pierpont Morgan Library, 1994, no. 44.
Régis, Michel. La peinture comme crime ou la part maudite de la modernité. Paris: Réunion des musées nationaux, 2001, pp. 107 and 357-358, no. 69, repr.
Lentzsch, Franziska, et al. Fuseli: The Wild Swiss. Zürich: Kunsthaus; Zürich: Scheidegger & Spiess AG, 2005, pp. 166-170, repr. on p. 166.
100 Master drawings from the Morgan Library & Museum. München : Hirmer, 2008, no. 69, repr. [Peter Dreyer]