The Tragic Actor (Rouvière in the role of Hamlet)
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.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
15243
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
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 o...