Sin Pursued by Death (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, 787, 790-792)

Sin Pursued by Death (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, 787, 790-792)

Moses Haughton the younger

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Fuseli’s early training in theology and admiration for English literature found fertile expression in a series of works inspired by Paradise Lost, made after he settled in London. In a horrific scene of infernal incest described in Book II (630–814), Death grasps at his mother, Sin; their union leads to the birth of the hounds of hell. The print, based on a painting made between 1794 and 1796, was executed by two engravers; Haughton used stipple and aquatint for the figures, while Lewis combined several intaglio processes to produce the innovative smoky effects in the background. Barry’s earlier treatment of the subject (on view nearby) may have influenced Fuseli.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Sin Pursued by Death (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, 787, 790-792)Sin Pursued by Death (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, 787, 790-792)Sin Pursued by Death (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, 787, 790-792)Sin Pursued by Death (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, 787, 790-792)Sin Pursued by Death (John Milton, Paradise Lost, Book 2, 787, 790-792)

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.