The Queen Tries to Console Hamlet
Eugène Delacroix French
Subject William Shakespeare British
Not on view
In 1834 Delacroix began a series of lithographs devoted to Hamlet, creating moody images that mirror the troubled psyche of the prince. Choosing key scenes and poetic passages, the artist's highly personal and dramatic images were unusual in France, where interest in Shakespeare developed only in the nineteenth century. Here, in act 1, scene 2, Gertrude urges her son to shed his dark attire, "Good Hamlet, cast thy nighted color off, and let thine eye look like a friend on Denmark." Still mourning his father, and distressed at his mother's hasty re-marriage, Hamlet sees no reason to comply and his glance demonstrates growing suspicion of his uncle, the new king. Gihaut frères published the artist's thirteen-print set in 1843, with a second expanded edition of sixteen issued by Bertauts in 1864. Cooly received at first, the prints eventually were recognized as one of the artist's most significant achievements.
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