Oh! Oh! Oh!, plate fourteen from Othello
Medium
Etching, engraving and roulette on off-white China paper, laid down on white wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 31.3 × 24.7 cm (12 3/8 × 9 3/4 in.); Plate: 32.1 × 25.6 cm (12 11/16 × 10 1/8 in.); Sheet: 58.6 × 41.9 cm (23 1/8 × 16 1/2 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
83878
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Shakespeare’s tragic tale of the Moorish general Othello, his bride, Desdemona, and the scheming Iago explores the timeless themes of racism, love, jealously, and betrayal. The play had gained considerable popularity in France by 1844. Though little is known of the specifics of this particular commission, it was a project that captivated Théodore Chassériau for years. These two prints, from Chassériau’s series of 15 plates, illustrate the emotional crescendo of Desdemona and Othello’s relationsh...
About the Artist
Théodore Chassériau · 1819–1856
Théodore Chassériau was born on September 20, 1819, in El Limón, Samaná, in the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo — present-day Dominican Republic — to a French father and a Creole mother. The family relocated to Paris in 1820, and the young Chassériau's exceptional talent was evident almost immediately. At just eleven years old, in 1830, he was accepted into the prestigious studio of Jean-Auguste-D...