The Nightmare

The Nightmare.

This is by far the most well known piece by Fűssli.  It was painted on canvas using oil paints in 1781.  Fűssli was commissioned to create this piece to illustrate a poem by G.G. Foster, also called The Nightmare.  The painting shows a sleeping girl whose head and arms are hanging over the edge of the bed.  On the girl’s stomach sits an incubus.  An incubus is a grotesque- looking male demon, believed to have sexual intercourse with women while they sleep.  The word ‘incubus’ comes from the Latin ‘incubo’ meaning ‘nightmare’.  In the background is an animal on which the incubus travels, known as the ‘Nightmare’.  The animal, although we never see all of it, appears to be a horse.  It would seem a good play on words that the incubus, a creature which visits women in their sleep, (therefore, presumably at night), would travel on a mare at night time.

There have been many adaptations and parodies of this work.  The woman in the original painting by Fűssli is believed to be the woman he wanted to marry (Anna Landolt), but her father refused to allow the marriage, and she went on to marry another man.  In a letter to Anna’s niece Fűssli described how he had made love to Anna in his dreams.  Fűssli used this Nightmare theme on a number of occasions, perhaps because he was plagued by nightmares about his oppressed love for Anna Landolt.