Contemporary Art and Design 

• Description
• Media
• When was it created?
• Who authored it?
• Country of origin?
• Historical period
• Iconography
• What is it designed to do?
• Who is the audience?
• Does it refer to other cultural products

      How has the context changed your response?

The elements you should consider for analysing any image are listed above.

The boxes to the right contains specific information about some elements of the this image. 

This painting by Fuseli is in the tradition of romanticism and the gothic.

Fuseli, Henri, The Nightmare,1790-1791, Oil on canvas, 76x63cm. Reproduced from ARTstor, accessed 7/1/2009.

This painting is one version of several painted. Fuseli was interested in painting'sensations'.

One of the elements we considered for analysis was iconography: There is the figure of the horse, the incubus and prone figure of the woman all linking sleep, death and horror. The painting is in the gothic tradition of the helpless woman at the mercy of dark, possibly supernatural forces.

Who authored it: John Henry Fuseli (1741-1825) He chose this subject to demonstrate his originality and create public interest.His painting reflects the gothic interest in sensation as a way to understand humanity and the demand of his contemporaries that a work of art should have universal significance.