The Swiss artist Fuseli studied in Rome before settling in England in 1779, where he became famous for his paintings of literary themes. A friend of Mary Wollstonecraft and William Blake, he was elected Professor of Painting and Keeper of the Royal Academy. Fuseli had been fascinated by Homer's 'Odyssey' since the 1760s. Published as an engraving in 1804, this composition depicts the visit of Odysseus to Teiresias in the Underworld. Between the two is the shadow of Odysseus's mother Anticleia.
