Hamlet and Horatio before the Gravediggers

Eugène Delacroix|Villain|William Shakespeare

1843 · Lithograph; second state of four · Drawings and Prints

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.

Artist

Eugène Delacroix|Villain|William Shakespeare

Date

1843

Medium

Lithograph; second state of four

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922