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

A work made of oil on canvas.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of oil on canvas.

Date:

1779/81; 1785/90 (verso)

Artist:

Henry Fuseli
Swiss, active in England, 1741-1825

About this artwork

Although Henry Fuseli spent most of his career in England, he was born Johann Heinrich Füssli in Zurich, Switzerland. This is a preliminary study for the artist’s first important commission, The Oath on the Rütli, in Zurich’s city hall. Both the study and the final painting depict the oath sworn on the Rütli meadow in 1291 by representatives of three Swiss cantons (territories) against the ambitions of their Habsburg overlords. This sketch, with its limited palette and loose, expressive brushstrokes, shows the artist thinking through questions of tone and mood.

Status

On View, Gallery 219

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Henry Fuseli

Title

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

Place

United Kingdom (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1779

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

Stretcher: 76 × 67.5 cm (29 15/16 × 26 9/16 in.); Irregular edges of the original canvas: 72.7 × 57.8 cm (28 5/8 × 22 3/4 in.); Tli image: 65.1 × 54.3 cm (25 5/8 × 21 3/8 in.)

Credit Line

Anonymous gift

Reference Number

1980.170

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/59989/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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