Joseph Fay (artist)

In 1840, Fay made a successful debut at an exhibition with his painting of Samson and Delilah (de: Sampson trahi par Dalillah) followed by Cleopatra (fr: une mort d Cleopatre).

In the same year, together with Lorenz Clasen, Heinrich Mücke and Hermann Plüddemann, he won a competition sponsored by the Kunstverein für die Rheinlande und Westfalen [de], to create a frescos depicting the early history of the Germans, up to the Battle of the Teutoburg Forest, at the Altes Elberfelder Rathaus [de].

Fay's fresco, entitled Customs and Life of the Ancient Germans, executed in 1843, proved to be his artistic breakthrough and received enthusiastic reviews and brought him numerous successes.

After the revolution of 1848, Fay, like many other Düsseldorf artists, withdrew from politically charged history painting and mainly focused on simple genre scenes and works inspired by literature, including a melodramatic last scene from Faust by Goethe, Mephisto in the Dungeon (de: Mephisto im Kerker) which he also lithographed, and Italian motifs such as the Bathing Roman Women (de: die Badenden Römerinnen).

His earlier works frequently contained historical and romantic subjects, whilst his later paintings mainly featured genre scenes.