Hamlet Attempts to Kill the King 1834–43 Eugène Delacroix French In 1834 Delacroix began a series of lithographs devoted to Hamlet, creating moody images that mirror the troubled psyche of the prince. Choosing key scenes and poetic passages, the artist's highly personal and dramatic images were unusual in France, where interest in Shakespeare developed only in the nineteenth century. Here, in act 3, scene 3, the prince pulls back from revenging himself upon his uncle. He reasons that since his potential target is at prayer, killing him would send his soul straightl to heaven, whereas his own m

Hamlet Attempts to Kill the King 1834–43 Eugène Delacroix French In 1834 Delacroix began a series of lithographs devoted to Hamlet, creating moody images that mirror the troubled psyche of the prince. Choosing key scenes and poetic passages, the artist's highly personal and dramatic images were unusual in France, where interest in Shakespeare developed only in the nineteenth century. Here, in act 3, scene 3, the prince pulls back from revenging himself upon his uncle. He reasons that since his potential target is at prayer, killing him would send his soul straightl to heaven, whereas his own murdered father was dispatched "unshriven"–without confessing his sins. Gihaut frères published the artist's thirteen-print set in 1843, with a second expanded edition of sixteen issued by Bertauts in 1864. Cooly received at first, the prints eventually were recognized as one of the artist's most significant Hamlet Attempts to Kill the King. Hamlet, Treize Sujets Dessinés par Eug. Delacroix [Hamlet, Thirteen Subjects Drawn by Eug. Delacroix], Gihaut Frères, Paris, 1843. Eugène Delacroix (French, Charenton-Saint-Maurice 1798–1863 Paris). 1834–43. Lithograph; first state of three. Prints

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