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Hamlet and Horatio before the Gravediggers

Lithographer Villain French
Subject William Shakespeare British
1843
Not on view
After completing at least six of his lithographic illustrations for "Hamlet," Delacroix put the project on hold in 1836, likely due to the pressures of state commissions for large-scale public decorations. He returned to it only in 1842; nevertheless, he remained preoccupied with certain scenes in the interim, especially act 5, scene 1, in which gravediggers preparing a burial site unearth the skull of Yorick, a jester Hamlet had known as a child. Delacroix based the composition on a painting of the same subject he had exhibited at the Salon of 1839. He made minor adjustments, notably giving Hamlet a more active stance and greater prominence in the scene.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Hamlet and Horatio before the Gravediggers
  • Series/Portfolio: Hamlet, Treize Sujets Dessinés par Eug. Delacroix [Hamlet, Thirteen Subjects Drawn by Eug. Delacroix], Gihaut Frères, Paris, 1843
  • Artist: Eugène Delacroix (French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris)
  • Lithographer: Villain (French, active 1819–53)
  • Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
  • Date: 1843
  • Medium: Lithograph; second state of four
  • Dimensions: Image: 11 1/4 x 8 1/4 in. (28.5 x 21 cm)
    Sheet: 12 1/2 x 9 5/16 in. (31.8 x 23.7 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1922
  • Object Number: 22.56.16
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
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Studies of Horses, Eugène Delacroix French, Graphite and traces of brown ink on laid paper
Studies of Horses
Eugène Delacroix
A Bearded Man, Standing, and a Classical Head, Eugène Delacroix French, Pen and brown ink on tracing paper (mounted on heavy wove paper)
A Bearded Man, Standing, and a Classical Head
Eugène Delacroix
1815–63
Les Français peints par eux-mêmes encyclopédie morale du dix-neuvième siècle. Paris, L. Curmer, 1840-1842.
Eugène Delacroix
19th century
La Pietà, Eugène Delacroix French, Etching on chine collé; second state of two
La Pietà
Multiple artists/makers
1852
Studies of a Goat, Eugène Delacroix French, Graphite on wove paper
Studies of a Goat
Eugène Delacroix
1798–1863

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