The Tragic Actor: Rouvière in the Role of Hamlet
Edouard Manet French
Sitter Philibert Rouvière French
Subject William Shakespeare British
Not on view
Manet here presents the celebrated French tragedian Philibert Rouvière as Hamlet, feathered hat in hand and sword at his feet, confronting the viewer against a shadowed background of scribbled lines. His distant, mournful expression, suitable for Shakespeare's tragic hero, may also convey the artist's feelings at the actor's recent death. Manet derived the powerful composition from his related oil painting (National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.), a work that recalls Velazquez's portrait of the seventeenth-century actor Pablo de Valladolid (Museo del Prado, Madrid).
This image cannot be enlarged, viewed at full screen, or downloaded.
