This eminent historical painter, and very extraordinary man, was born at
Zurich, in Switzerland, in 1741, according to all accounts save his own;
but he himself placed it in 1745, without adding the day or month. He
always spoke of his age with reluctance. Once, when pressed about it, he
peevishly exclaimed, "How should I know? I was born in February or
March--it was some cursed cold month, as you may guess from my
diminutive stature and crabbed disposition." He was the son of the
painter, John Caspar Fuseli, and the second of eighteen children.