"Oh! Oh! Oh!": plate 14 from Othello (Act 5, Scene 2)
After Delacroix’s successful Hamlet lithographs appeared in 1843, Chassériau responded with a series of etchings devoted to Shakespeare’s Othello. This example encapsulates the play’s climax in act 5, in which the title character is undone by his tragic error concerning his wife, Desdemona. Having smothered her, he now kneels despairingly by the bed as her attendant Emilia reveals that "honest Iago," who told Othello she had been unfaithful, is a jealous manipulator:
"Now lay thee down and roar. / For thou has killed the sweetest innocent, / That did ever lift up eye."
By choosing etching, Chassériau was able to both include fine detail and convey his expressive conception of form.
"Now lay thee down and roar. / For thou has killed the sweetest innocent, / That did ever lift up eye."
By choosing etching, Chassériau was able to both include fine detail and convey his expressive conception of form.
Artwork Details
- Title: "Oh! Oh! Oh!": plate 14 from Othello (Act 5, Scene 2)
- Series/Portfolio: Suite of fifteen prints: Shakespeare's Othello / Quinze Esquisses à l'eau forte dessinées et gravées par Théodore Chasseriau
- Artist: Théodore Chassériau (French, Le Limon, Saint-Domingue, West Indies 1819–1856 Paris)
- Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
- Date: etched 1844, reprinted 1900
- Medium: Etching, engraving, and roulette on chine collé; second edition (Gazette des Beaux-Arts)
- Dimensions: Image: 12 3/8 x 9 3/4 in. (31.4 x 24.8 cm)
Plate: 14 7/16 x 10 7/16 in. (36.7 x 26.5 cm)
Sheet: 21 3/4 × 15 3/16 in. (55.3 × 38.5 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932
- Object Number: 32.7.14
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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Théodore Chassériau
1844
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1838
Théodore Chassériau
1841
Théodore Chassériau
1844
Théodore Chassériau
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