The month of June is the time of midsummer centred upon the summer solstice, which this year falls on Saturday 21^st June.

In the Middle Ages the evening before midsummer was celebrated much as we now celebrate the New Year: bonfires were lit, feasts devoured and much merrymaking occurred. Midsummer is still celebrated each year in Chester in one of the UK ’s oldest and most colourful festivals.

The figure of Puck in English mythology is a mischievous nature sprite or fairy and was painted several times by the artist Henry Fuseli. He painted him most notably as the character from A Midsummer Night’s Dream by William Shakespeare, although this version hanging in Tabley House is probably derived from a series of paintings based on the work of the poet John Milton.

Henry Fuseli was born in 1741 in Zurich as Johann Füssli, one of eighteen children. His father…