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Hamlet Contemplating Yorick’s Skull

1828
Not on view
Act 5, scene 1 of "Hamlet" in which the gravedigger preparing Ophelia’s burial site unearths the skull of Yorick, a jester from Hamlet’s childhood, preoccupied Delacroix throughout his career. This lithograph represents his first treatment of the subject in print. He reprised it in paintings for the Salon (one rejected in 1836 and another accepted in 1839) and as part of his suite of illustrations for "Hamlet" in 1843.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Hamlet Contemplating Yorick’s Skull
  • Artist: Eugène Delacroix (French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris)
  • Date: 1828
  • Medium: Lithograph on chine collé; third state of three
  • Dimensions: Image: 10 1/4 × 13 9/16 in. (26.1 × 34.5 cm)
    Sheet (chine collé): 11 9/16 × 14 7/8 in. (29.3 × 37.8 cm)
    Sheet: 16 5/8 × 19 1/2 in. (42.2 × 49.5 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 2018
  • Object Number: 2018.79
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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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