Portrait of a Young Woman
by FUSELI, John Henry, Oil on canvas, 101 x 127 cm
This portrait is painted on the reverse of the Nightmare.
The portrait is generally believed to be of the woman Fuseli loved, Anna Landolt, who was a niece of the Zurich physiologist Johann Caspar Lavater (1741-1801). Lavater and Fuseli were close friends, but Fuseli’s suit was rejected by Anna’s parents, and it may not be coincidence that the portrait is on the reverse of his painting The Nightmare.