# The Spirit of Knowledge

- By: Henry Fuseli (Swiss, active in England, 1741-1825)
- Date: 1798
- Medium: Black chalk and brush and gray wash on ivory laid paper
- Classification: Drawing and Watercolor
- Dimensions: 18.2 × 22.3 cm (7 3/16 × 8 13/16 in.)
- Culture: England
- Credit line: Given in honor of Dorothy Braude Edinburg by Lowell Libson and the Directors of Spink-Leger
- Museum: [Art Institute of Chicago](https://www.artic.edu/artworks/150038)
- Rights: [Public domain (CC0)](https://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/)
- Picture: https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/13eb1020-9f2a-2261-7497-883309e8dfde/full/!1920,1080/0/default.jpg
- Who can see it: Teens profiles and older (museums give no ratings; placed by Invisible Network from the museum's own words)

One of the most original and probing artists of the late 18th century, Fuseli worked principally in London but went to Rome for eight years beginning in 1770. The influence of Michelangelo’s prophets and sibyls is tangible in this allegorical figure, probably drawn in London a decade after he left Rome; at this time Fuseli had recently met William Blake, who treated a similar subject in his Book of Job.

Description © Art Institute of Chicago, CC BY 4.0