Oedipus Cursing His Son Polynices

Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) was a Swiss-born painter who worked in London, known for his dramatic, often nightmarish subjects drawn from literature and mythology that made him one of the most distinctive figures in British Romantic art. Oedipus Cursing His Son Polynices from 1786 depicts the episode from Greek tragedy in which Oedipus, having discovered that he has killed his father and married his mother, curses his son Polynices with the violent gesture and dramatic lighting that distinguish Fuseli's treatment of literary subjects. The 1786 date places this in the period when Fuseli was producing his most accomplished literary subjects for exhibition at the Royal Academy.

Fuseli's literary subjects are important in the history of British Romantic art because they demonstrate the dramatic, often nightmarish quality that distinguishes British Romantic painting from the more naturalistic tradition of British landscape and portraiture. Oedipus Cursing His Son Polynices shows Fuseli treating a Greek tragedy with the violent gesture and dramatic lighting that he brought to his Shakespeare and Milton subjects, creating a painting that is simultaneously literary and theatrical.

Oedipus Cursing His Son Polynices is Fuseli's literary drama at its most violent: the Greek tragedy rendered with the dramatic gesture and lighting that distinguish British Romantic painting from the more naturalistic tradition. The 1786 painting shows Fuseli treating Greek tragedy with the same theatrical intensity that he brought to Shakespeare and Milton.