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Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus and the Ghost (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4)

first published 1796; reissued 1852
Not on view
Fascinated by the supernatural, Fuseli found rich subjects in Shakespeare. Alife-long devotee, the artist read the plays as a youth in Zurich then devised an elaborate mural scheme devoted to admired plays while in Rome during the 1770s. After settling in London, Fuseli contributed paintings to John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, launched in 1786 as an exhibition cum print-publishing scheme funded by subscribers. Thew's print reproduces Fuseli's conception of the ghost scene at the start of "Hamlet" where the prince's murdered father appears outside Elsinore Castle to demand vengeance. This impression comes from an American reissue of 1852 spearheaded by Shearjashub Spooner, a New York dental surgeon, writer and art scholar who acquired Boydell's heavily worn plates and had them reworked. His New York edition was printed on thick cream paper with small numbers added in the lower left margin, this being number 96.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Hamlet, Horatio, Marcellus and the Ghost (Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 1, Scene 4)
  • Series/Portfolio: The American edition of Boydell's Illustrations of the Dramatic Works of Shakespeare
  • Engraver: Robert Thew (British, Patrington 1758–1802 Stevenage)
  • Artist: After Henry Fuseli (Swiss, Zürich 1741–1825 London)
  • Publisher: Originally published by John & Josiah Boydell (British, 1786–1804)
  • Publisher: Reissued by Shearjashub Spooner (American, Brandon, Vermont 1809–1859 Plainfield, New Jersey)
  • Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
  • Date: first published 1796; reissued 1852
  • Medium: Stipple engraving; fourth state of four
  • Dimensions: Image: 17 in. × 23 7/16 in. (43.2 × 59.5 cm)
    Sheet: 21 9/16 x 27 1/2 in. (54.8 x 69.8 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Gertrude and Thomas Jefferson Mumford Collection, Gift of Dorothy Quick Mayer, 1942
  • Object Number: 42.119.545
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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