Hamlet wants to follow his father’s ghost (Act I, scene iv)
1864
Imagine being so desperate to talk to a ghost that your friends have to physically tackle you—that's the intense vibe Delacroix captures here. In this scene from Hamlet, the Prince is being restrained by his friends as he tries to chase the spectral figure of his father, who beckons ominously from the shadows near a looming castle. Delacroix, a giant of the Romantic movement, uses scratchy, energetic lines to convey the panic and supernatural tension. He created a famous series of these illustrations for Shakespeare's plays, proving that the French artist was just as obsessed with moody, tragic heroes as the English bard himself.
- Technique
- Lithograph
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