Macbeth, Shakespeare: the three weird sisters

Macbeth’s three weird sisters was among Fuseli’s most powerful Shakespearean subjects, depicting the witches whose prophecy launches the tragedy of ambition and murder. Fuseli’s treatment of the supernatural in Shakespeare influenced generations of artists and established the visual vocabulary for depicting the uncanny in Romantic art. Characteristic of the artist's mature approach, the work displays Michelangelesque muscular figures in extremis, supernatural and nightmare subjects, violent foreshortening, dark Gothic atmosphere, theatrical excess.

The three figures emerge from darkness with Fuseli’s characteristic combination of anatomical exaggeration and psychological intensity. Bold chiaroscuro creates a supernatural atmosphere that transcends theatrical illustration.