''Lady Macbeth Seizing the Daggers'' is an oil on canvas painting by the Swiss-British artist

Henry Fuseli Henry Fuseli ( ; ; 7 February 1741 – 17 April 1825) was a Swiss painter, draughtsman, and writer on art who spent much of his life in Britain. Many of his successful works depict supernatural experiences, such as '' The Nightmare''. He pr ...

, created in 1812. The work is held at the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in En ...

, in

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

History and description

Fuseli was a great admirer of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

; he himself had translated the play ''

Macbeth ''The Tragedy of Macbeth'', often shortened to ''Macbeth'' (), is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, estimated to have been first performed in 1606. It dramatises the physically violent and damaging psychological effects of political ambiti ...

'' to German. He created several paintings inspired by Shakespeare's works. This painting, most likely a sketch for an intended larger work, represents a passage from the second scene of the second act of the same play. In this scene the protagonist, Macbeth, holds at arm's length the still bloody daggers with which he has just killed

King Duncan King Duncan is a fictional character in Shakespeare's ''Macbeth.'' He is the father of two youthful sons ( Malcolm and Donalbain), and the victim of a well-plotted regicide in a power grab by his trusted captain Macbeth. The origin of the ch ...

, while his wife Lady Macbeth, the instigator of the regicide, signals him to be silent while rushing towards her husband to disarm him. Macbeth appears remorseful, while his wife appears more confident. The scene has a fantastical appearance; the characters resemble glowing spectres before a dark background.''Henry Fuseli 1741-1825'', exhibition catalogue, Tate Gallery, London 1975, p.59, reproduced p.58.

References

1812 paintings Paintings by Henry Fuseli Paintings in the Tate galleries Works based on Macbeth Paintings based on works by William Shakespeare Oil on canvas paintings Paintings of women {{1810s-painting-stub