Hamlet et sa mère (1849)

Delacroix, Eugène (1798-1863)

Hamlet et sa mère (Hamlet and His Mother)
1849
Oil on canvas, 27.3 x 18.1 cm
Metropolitan Museum of ArtNew York

This painting depicts the moment in Shakespeare’s epic tragedy Hamlet in which the protagonist, who has been speaking privately with his mother, Queen Gertrude of Denmark, notices a figure behind the curtains of her closet. Immediately afterward, Hamlet will impale the hidden Polonius with his sword, and utter the memorable phrase “How now! A rat? Dead for a ducat, dead!” The composition is identical to a black and white lithograph Delacroix made for a portfolio devoted to the play, which was first published in 1843. (MET)

See also:

• Shakespeare, William (1564-1616)