Édouard Manet
French, 1832-1883
The Tragic Actor (Rouvière in the role of Hamlet)
INV-1524
Édouard Manet
French, 1832-18831865–66
The Tragic Actor (Rouvière in the role of Hamlet)
Édouard Manet French, 1832-1883 →etchingprint
Date
1865–66
Medium
Etching and plate tone in black on ivory laid paper
Dimensions
Image: 29.9 × 16.1 cm (11 13/16 × 6 3/8 in.); Plate: 32.6 × 17.8 cm (12 7/8 × 7 1/16 in.); Sheet: 36.9 × 22.1 cm (14 9/16 × 8 3/4 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
John H. Wrenn Memorial Collection
Édouard Manet’s etching depicts Philibert Rouvière in one of his most celebrated roles. The actor stands alone in theatrical lighting, with the diagonals of the rapier and shadows on the floor suggesting his violent state of mind. Rouvière is thought to have based his intense and physically exaggerated portrayal of Hamlet on Delacroix’s series of lithographs, two of which are on display nearby. Manet painted a nearly identical portrait of Rouvière as Hamlet in 1865, now in the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C. He completed the painting and made this print after the actor’s death, possibly as a tribute.
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