Hamlet Attempts to Kill the King
Eugène Delacroix French
Lithographer Villain French
Subject William Shakespeare British
Not on view
In 1834 Delacroix began a series of lithographs devoted to Hamlet, creating moody images that mirror the troubled psyche of the prince. Choosing key scenes and poetic passages, the artist's highly personal and dramatic images were unusual in France, where interest in Shakespeare developed only in the nineteenth century. Here, in act 3, scene 3, the prince pulls back from revenging himself upon his uncle. He reasons that since his potential target is at prayer, killing him would send his soul straightl to heaven, whereas his own murdered father was dispatched "unshriven"–without confessing his sins. Gihaut frères published the artist's thirteen-print set in 1843, with a second expanded edition of sixteen issued by Bertauts in 1864. Cooly received at first, the prints eventually were recognized as one of the artist's most significant achievements.
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