Artwork Information

Haste thee, Nymph and bring with thee, Jest, and youthful jollity, Quips and Cranks and wanton wiles, Nods and Becks and wreathed Smiles… Sport that Wrinkled Care derides, And Laughter holding both his sides.

L'Allegro lines 27-32

Fuseli spent several years in Italy, and many of his figures make direct reference to Renaissance paintings - here the Nymph is based on Correggio's Danae (Galleria Borghese, Rome). The figures of Laughter, a gnomic jester with traces of wings sprouting from his shoulders, and Care, were later to directly influence Blake's Mirth and Her Companions (1817). (Monsters and Maidens, 2004)

[second image on reverse]