Hamlet Contemplating Yorick’s Skull

Hamlet Contemplating Yorick’s Skull

Eugène Delacroix

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Act 5, scene 1 of "Hamlet" in which the gravedigger preparing Ophelia’s burial site unearths the skull of Yorick, a jester from Hamlet’s childhood, preoccupied Delacroix throughout his career. This lithograph represents his first treatment of the subject in print. He reprised it in paintings for the Salon (one rejected in 1836 and another accepted in 1839) and as part of his suite of illustrations for "Hamlet" in 1843.

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

Hamlet Contemplating Yorick’s SkullHamlet Contemplating Yorick’s SkullHamlet Contemplating Yorick’s SkullHamlet Contemplating Yorick’s SkullHamlet Contemplating Yorick’s Skull

The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.