The Fairy Mab
Artist: Henry Fuseli (1741–1825)
Date: from 1815 until 1820
Medium: oil on canvas
Dimensions: Height: 70 cm (27.5 in); Width: 90 cm (35.4 in)
Collection: Folger Shakespeare Library
Current location: Washington, D.C.
About the artist, via Wikipedia:
[1] Describing Fuseli’s style, the 1911 edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica said that:
His figures are full of life and earnestness, and seem to have an object in view which they follow with intensity. Like Rubens he excelled in the art of setting his figures in motion. Though the lofty and terrible was his proper sphere, Fuseli had a fine perception of the ludicrous. The grotesque humour of his fairy scenes, especially those taken from A Midsummer-Night’s Dream, is in its way not less remarkable than the poetic power of his more ambitious works.
Though not noted as a colourist, Fuseli was described as a master of light and shadow. Rather than setting out his palette methodically in the manner of most painters, he merely distributed the colours across it randomly. He often used his pigments in the form of a dry powder, which he hastily combined on the end of his brush with oil, or turpentine, or gold size, regardless of the quantity, and depending on accident for the general effect. This recklessness may perhaps be explained by the fact that he did not paint in oil until the age of 25. [1]
Credits and Attributions:
The Fairy Mab by Henry Fuseli, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons. Wikimedia Commons contributors, “File:Johann Heinrich Füssli 038.jpg,” Wikimedia Commons, the free media repository, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?title=File:Johann_Heinrich_F%C3%BCssli_038.jpg&oldid=386917365 (accessed May 15, 2021).
[1] Wikipedia contributors, “Henry Fuseli,” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Henry_Fuseli&oldid=1022033114 (accessed May 15, 2021).
Life in the Realm of Fantasy 
