Prospero, Caliban and Miranda in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act 1 Scene II
| Artist | Henry Fuseli (Swiss, 1741–1825) |
|---|---|
| Title | Prospero, Caliban and Miranda in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act 1 Scene II |
| Date | Ca. 1806–1810 |
| Medium | Oil on canvas |
| Dimensions | Framed: 43 1/4 x 38 1/8 x 4 in. (109.9 x 96.8 x 10.2 cm) Support: 35 1/2 x 27 1/2 in. (90.2 x 69.9 cm) |
| Credit Line | Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University |
| Accession Number | 79.70 |
| This artwork is currently on view. | |
A tall, white-bearded man on the right of the composition raises a wand over a second man, who cowers on the left side of the composition. Behind them, a woman sits in profile with her head in her hand. The scene is very dark, with gentle light to illuminate the key figures.
In this scene from Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1610–11), the wizard Prospero, protecting his daughter Miranda from the advances of his slave Caliban, threatens the slave with his magical powers. Caliban’s twisted figure, flooded in strong light, dramatically dominates the composition. Henry Fuseli was Europe’s most famous painter of Shakespearean subjects around 1800. Many of his works reflect the taste for the “Gothic”—a term used at the time to describe the supernatural. The popularity of Gothic subjects signaled a shift in the arts from Neoclassicism to Romanticism.
| Exhibition Title | Caliban Confronting Prospero, Miranda Asleep in the Cavern |
|---|
Provenance research is ongoing for this and many other items in the Eskenazi Museum of Art permanent collection. For more information about the provenance of this artwork, please contact the department curator with specific questions.
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"Prospero, Caliban and Miranda in Shakespeare's The Tempest, Act 1 Scene II | Collections Online." Collections Online. Sidney and Lois Eskenazi Museum of Art, Indiana University, 2025. https://artmuseum.indiana.edu/collections-online/browse/object.php?number=79.70