ABSTRACT
Working for Henry Fuseli was different from William Blake's other commissions because he got involved at the level of content, when he read and annotated Aphorisms on Man. Carol Louise Hall has explored Fuseli's role as 'transmitter' of new ideas to Britain. A similar case for physiognomically manifest friendship can be argued for those involved in the creation of Aphorisms on Man, albeit their portraits are only on the sketch and did not make it into the final, published version. While working with Blake on the frontispiece to Aphorisms on Man, Fuseli most likely talked about good copy-making. After all, Johann Caspar Lavater's physiognomical practice revolves around converting images into textual description. Lavater is adamant that words are not as powerful or convincing as images. This realization is closely linked to the memory of his close friend Felix Hess, because the drawing session he describes in Physiognomische Fragmente, takes place at Hess's deathbed.
