Description
Hamlet and Horatio stand at the left and center of Eugène Delacroix’s graveyard scene, while a gravedigger kneels at the right before disturbed earth and a skull. Their different positions bring conversation into contact with physical work. The subject from Shakespeare gives an ordinary task a larger resonance, making the ground between living figures a place of thought as well as labor.
Made in 1843, the lithograph was produced with Villain as lithographer. Delacroix’s subject gives the ordinary work of digging a grave another resonance through the company of Hamlet and Horatio. The encounter brings different perspectives into one place, allowing familiar labor and larger questions to coexist. Its interest lies in that meeting, where a scene from Shakespeare can remain grounded in particular people while suggesting thoughts whose significance extends beyond the immediate moment.
Read our guide to giclée prints or browse the Eugène Delacroix collection.
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