"The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli

"The Nightmare" by Henry Fuseli.

An oil painting done in 1781, depicting a sleeping woman with a demonic incubus on her chest and a horse with glowing eyes in the background. 

The painting was displayed for the first time at the annual Royal Academy exhibition in London (1782). It was unlike the usual type of popular art there, not having any moralizing subject or inspiration from anywhere (like history, the Bible, etc) except the artist's imagination. 

This painting became an icon of Romantism and is a defining image of gothic horror from that time period. This painting inspired Mary Shelley, Edgar Allan Poe and Erasmus Darwin (Charle's Darwin's grandfather), along with many others.