Sleeping Woman with a Cupid (Hush)

Fuseli himself etched this mysterious erotic image of a woman dozing on a cushioned divan. She wears a classically styled gown that exposes her breasts and has been hit by an invisible arrow released by Cupid, who hovers at upper left. Her dropped book rests near mating butterflies and Greek letters on a pillar translate as "Silence" or "Hush," warning us not to disturb the sleeper's dreams.

Credit: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1955