Hamlet and Horatio at the Cemetery, 1835

About the Work

Alone in the graveyard, the young Prince Hamlet and his friend Horatio meditate on death and transience. Only when a funeral procession appears, escorting Hamlet's beloved Ophelia on her final journey, will they discover whose grave they are beside. Horatio stands firmly and in an elevated position, while the prince, holding the skull of the court jester Yorick in his hand, almost slides into the grave from the slanting stone slab - a reference to his own imminent death. In this painting, which was rejected by the jury of the Paris Salon, Delacroix portrays Shakespeare's protagonists as typical Romantic heroes: sensitive and melancholy, isolated and introspective.