Hamlet and the Queen, plate 1 from Hamlet

"Hamlet and the Queen, plate 1 from Hamlet" is a powerful lithograph created in 1834 by the master of French Romanticism, Eugène Delacroix (1798-1863). This print, executed in black ink, demonstrates Delacroix’s profound skill in capturing dramatic psychological tension through monochrome. The delicate black ink lines are rendered upon off-white China paper, which has been carefully laid down upon a thicker white wove paper, a specialized technique used in nineteenth-century French printmaking to enhance the surface quality and intensity of the image.

The subject is drawn from Shakespeare’s tragedy, a narrative Delacroix favored for its intense exploration of human emotion and conflict. As a key product of the Romantic era in France, this piece exemplifies the cultural fascination with profound suffering and literary narratives that dominated the period. Delacroix’s composition focuses on the dramatic confrontation between Prince Hamlet and his mother, Queen Gertrude, often depicting the ghost of Hamlet's father witnessing the exchange. Delacroix utilizes dense cross-hatching and sharp contrasts of light and shadow, characteristic of the period’s expressive prints, to heighten the sense of emotional turmoil and secrecy within the scene.

Delacroix created a significant body of prints throughout his career, cementing the status of lithography as an expressive medium equal to painting. This specific work, illustrating one of the most famous literary figures, is held in the prestigious collection of the Art Institute of Chicago. The piece is significant not only for its technical mastery as a lithograph but also for its contribution to the visual interpretation of Shakespearean drama, maintaining a dramatic intensity that is sought after today.