Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863), Hamlet and Horatio at the cemetery with the skull of Yorick, 1843, Lithograph

Beschreibung: Eugène Delacroix (1798 Charenton-Saint-Maurice b. Paris - 1863 Paris), Hamlet and Horatio at the cemetery with the skull of Yorick, 1843, Lithograph

Technique: Lithograph on chine collé
Size: 44,6 x 30,9 cm, Additional sizes: Representation: 28,5 x 21,2 cm | 17 1/2 x 12 1/4 in
Inscription: lower left in the stone signed and dated: "Eug. Delacroix 1843.", Below the image inscribed: "Imp. Bertauts. Paris. | ...C'est la caboche d'Yorick, fou du Roi.", right top numbered: "XIV"

Condition: Very good condition. A little bit browned at margins, a little bit rubbed and the corners slightly bumped, small tear at lower left, two larger creases at lower right corner, at the back side remains and traces of old mounting.

Description: Delacroix saw several plays by Shakespeare, mentioned them repeatedly and depicted them repeatedly in individual scenes until his later years. Most often, however, he devoted himself to Hamlet, Prince of Denmark. In the last act there is the encounter depicted here. With Horatio, Hamlet meets two gravediggers, one of whom hands him a skull from the grave raw and unmoved. It is the skull of Yorick, his father's former beloved jester, which brings back touching memories of his youth. The second gravedigger sits in back view at the front of the pit, the symbolic scythe in his hand. With his, all four eyes are finally directed to the centre of the scene, both in terms of content and image. At this point in the play, Hamlet's sombre monologue about mortality develops by drastically describing the lips hanging from the bald skull that he kissed so often as a child. Disgust and emotion merge into one of Shakespeare's most impressive scenes. This juxtaposition of happy memories and sheer horror in the face of death and transience was what moved Delacroix and moved his imagination. In our lithograph he succeeds magnificently in rendering the drastic nature of this scene in the most vivid way. |tw
Cat.Rais.: Delteil 116, 3rd State

Keywords: Romanticism, Genre, History, Hamlet, Lithography, Yorick, Jester, Horatio, Cemetery, Gravedigger

Zustand: Very good condition. A little bit browned at margins, a little bit rubbed and the corners slightly bumped, small tear at lower left, two larger creases at lower right corner, at the back side remains and traces of old mounting. Hinweise: Romanticism, Genre, History, Hamlet, Lithography, Yorick, Jester, Horatio, Cemetery, Gravedigger Abmessungen: 44,6 x 30,9 cm, Additional sizes: Representation: 28,5 x 21,2 cm | 17 1/2 x 12 1/4 in Name des Künstlers: Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863) Medium: Lithograph on chine collé