Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Plan your visit. 225 Madison Avenue at 36th Street, New York, NY 10016.

Kriemhild at the Wake of Siegfried

Henry Fuseli
1741-1825

Kriemhild at the Wake of Siegfried

1805
14 5/16 x 18 9/16 inches (364 x 471 mm)
Black and brown watercolor, white opaque watercolor over graphite; verso is reverse of drawing, in black ink wash over graphite.
2010.111

Thaw Collection.

Notes
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"
Associated names
Ford, Brinsley, former owner.
Spector, Stephen, 1946- former owner.
Thaw, Eugene Victor, former owner.
Thaw, Clare, former owner.
Bibliography
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]
Artist
Classification
Century Drawings
School
Department