attributed to Master of the Giants (? Prince Hoare)

The Master of the Giants (?Prince Hoare 1755–1834), attributed to

T01843 Unknown Mythological Subject

Inscribed ‘Fuseli’ on verso in pencil, in modern hand. No watermark.
Pencil, black ink and grey wash on paper, 9½ x 7½ (24.5 x 19).
Purchased (Grant-in-A id) 1974.
Coll: . . .; Gerald C. Paget, New York.

A giantess striding forward leaning on a stick to which a child is tied. In the background a group of fleeing men appear to be struck down by lightning.

T01843 appears to belong to a group of highly mannered drawings of uncertain origin first identified as the work of one hand from a Roman sketchbook, dated 1779, which was with Roland, Browse and Delbanco in 1949. They tend to deal with bizarre and horrifying subjects which are often difficult to interpret, and are stylistically related to the circle of Fuseli. Hoare, who knew Fuseli in Rome in the 1770s, has been tentatively suggested as their possible author by L. G. Duke and by Frederick Antal (Fuseli Studies, 1956, pp.56, 76). Echoes of Michelangelo’s ‘Captives’ are discernible in the small figure tied to the pole.

Published in The Tate Gallery Report 1972–1974, London 1975.