The Cave of Despair

Data retrieved from the Art Institute of Chicago on October 8, 2026. The museum may have updated its record since.

Quick Overview

Artist: Henry Fuseli / Swiss, active in England, 1741-1825
Date: c. 1769
Medium: Pen and black ink, with brush and brown and gray wash and touches of red gouache, over graphite and touches of charcoal, on ivory laid paper
Dimensions: 33.1 × 50.4 cm (13 1/16 × 19 7/8 in.)
Type: Drawing
Classification: pen and ink drawings
Place: England
Department: Prints and Drawings
Credit line: The Leonora Hall Gurley Memorial Collection
Accession no.: 1922.2151

Milton Dictating to His Daughter
Henry Fuseli
1794 · Painting
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00000978
Sketch for "Oath on the Rütli" (recto), Female Figure (verso)
Henry Fuseli
1779–81 (recto); 1785–90 (verso) · Painting
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00001107
Two Heads of Damned Souls from Dante's "Inferno" (recto and verso)
Henry Fuseli
1770–78 · Painting
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00001543
Ugolino and His Sons Starving to Death in the Tower
Henry Fuseli
1806 · Drawing
Public collection via the Art Institute of Chicago
AT-00002156