Fuseli, Henry. [Macbeth and the witches]

Folger bibliographic ID: 245182
Folger call number: ART Box F993 no.4
Folger holdings ID: 311435

General notes

Title devised by cataloger Not in Schiff This drawing was mis-cataloged in the 1980s as a preparatory sketch for Fuseli's painting of act 1, scene 3 of Macbeth, the witches appearing to Banquo and Macbeth on the heath. It actually shows a nightmarish morphing of that scene with act 4, scene 1, the cauldron scene. A toad and an owl--future ingredients of the witches' brew--swirl within the witches' robes as they fly toward Macbeth, each with "her choppy finger laying / Upon her skinny lips," preparing to hail "Macbeth that shalt be king hereafter." A copy of this drawing by James Northcote is in the collection of the Yale Center for British Art. Nancy L. Pressly (The Fuseli circle in Rome / Yale Center for British Art, 1979, no. 100) dates the copy ca. 1777-1778 based on the Italian watermarked paper Also available as a digital reproduction Provenance: Baroness North collection (stamp on verso of secondary support)

Exhibited

Exhibited: The Curatorial Eye: Discoveries from the Folger Vault, curated by Folger Shakespeare Library staff, Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, D.C., June 13-August 29, 2009

Extended title: [Macbeth and the witches] [Henry Fuseli]

Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616. Macbeth Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616 Macbeth, King of Scotland, active 11th century Weird Sisters (Fictitious characters)

artist: Fuseli, Henry, 1741-1825
depiction: Shakespeare, William, 1564-1616
depiction: Macbeth, King of Scotland, active 11th century
former owner: North, Susan, Baroness, 1797-1884