Arte

Interiores y decoración

Joyería y piedras preciosas

Relojes de pulsera, plumas, bolígrafos y encendedores

Moda

Monedas y sellos

Cómics y animación

Coches clásicos, motos clásicas y automobilia

Vino, whisky y licores

Arte asiático y tribal

Cartas y cromos coleccionables

Juguetes y modelos a escala

Arqueología e historia natural

Deportes

Música, películas y cámaras

Libros y memorabilia histórica

{name} te trae los objetos más especiales

Caterina Maffeis

A remarkable, highly rare, museum-grade working sheet—Delacroix’s renowned Death of Hamlet composition captured in formation.

Compositional Study for The Death of Hamlet c. 1840
Black pencil on paper
Sheet size: 24 × 30 cm
Monogrammed “ED” in red, lower left.

Provenance:
Artist’s studio sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouo t, 17–29 February 1864, likely lot no. 407.
Bearing the artist’s estate stamp (Lugt 838a) at lower left.

MOUSEION CURATOR NOTE:

“This sheet captures Delacroix at his most theatrical—building a tragedy not through finish, but through placement, weight, and gesture. The drawing is an early compositional invention for the climactic tableau of The Death of Hamlet, testing the two engines of the scene—Hamlet collapsing in the arms of Horatio, and the carried body of Laertes—before Delacroix later tightened the drama into the monumental clarity of the published renowned lithograph. An exceptionally rare opportunity to acquire a sheet that preserves Delacroix’s creative process at work.”

THE WORK IN RELATION TO THE FAMOUS LITHOGRAPH:

Delacroix’s lithograph The Death of Hamlet (1843) forms the dramatic culmination of his celebrated Hamlet suite. Delacroix began his Hamlet lithographs in 1834, pursuing the subject over many years before the principal publication.  They were later recognized as one of Delacroix’s most significant achievements.

This drawing is especially illuminating because it records a stage before the final orchestration. Figures are established with searching contours and structural shorthand rather than finished modelling; the main tragedy group is already conceived, but their positions remain fluid. Notably, parts of the composition read as reversed relative to the final print—an effect frequently encountered in printmaking workflows, where transfer to lithographic printing invert the image direction. 

Delacroix hamlet suite is now seen as one of the defining statements of French Romantic printmaking—images that feel staged like theatre, yet psychologically charged, with Delacroix selecting key scenes and transforming Shakespeare into intensely personal, dramatic pictorial narratives.

COMPOSITION AND EXECUTION:

Executed in black pencil with rapid, exploratory handling, the sheet is conceived as a true compositional study. The drama is organized into two counterbalancing masses:

The Hamlet–Horatio group is treated as the emotional core: Hamlet’s collapse and extended arm create a dominant diagonal, while Horatio’s crouched lean forms a protective arch over the dying body.

The carried Laertes group functions as the compositional counterweight: a “public” movement of bodies bearing the dead/stricken figure, staging the catastrophe as both intimate and communal.

Additionally at the extreme right, the Queen’s stricken fall—poisoned in the final scene—adds a secondary tragedy that deepens the tableau and clarifies Delacroix’s ambition to stage the entire catastrophe within a single composition.

What gives this study particular value for understanding the lithograph is its state of becoming: the figures are present as ideas—positions, weights, and vectors—before Delacroix’s later refinement seen in the final printed composition.

HISTORICAL CONTEXT: THE FINAL SCENE AS A “STRUCTURAL” IMAGE

In narrative cycles, the concluding catastrophe scene demands maximum clarity: multiple protagonists, multiple deaths, and a court reacting in a single staged moment. Delacroix’s lithograph is built to read instantly as tragedy—yet this sheet reveals the underlying labor of invention: not “illustration,” but pictorial decision-making, where gesture, reversal, and group placement are tested until the image becomes inevitable.

CONDITION:

The sheet presents well, with overall age toning and scattered foxing/spotting, with minor surface handling and softening of the pencil in places consistent with an artist’s working drawing on paper. 

NOTE:

We take the utmost care in packing and ship via a secure, fully tracked and insured service.

The frame is provided free of charge and the seller cannot accept liability for any damages to the frame.

The lithograph shown in the comparative images is for reference only and is not included in this sale.

Dibujo a lápiz - Firmado - 1840

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) - Compositional Study for The Death of Hamlet

Accesorios de moda

Precio de reserva

Sin precio de reserva

Comprar ya

Presupuesto

Fecha final 

domingo

sábado

mañana

viernes

martes

lunes

4 abril

hoy 

3 abril

Ubicación

Italia

Francia

Países Bajos

Japón

España

Lituania

Bélgica

Alemania

Letonia

Austria

Turquía

Suiza

Polonia

Ucrania

Rumanía

Hungría

Portugal

Reino Unido

Estados Unidos

Noruega

República Checa

Grecia

Bulgaria

Israel

Hong Kong

Dimensiones

Altura

Ancho

Profundidad

Marca

Hermès

Louis Vuitton

Other brand

Gucci

Cartier

Chanel

Montblanc

Burberry

Christian Dior

Moncler

Yves Saint Laurent

Bausch & Lomb U.S.A

Borsalino

Carrera

Dolce & Gabbana

Prada

Vivienne Westwood

Persol Ratti

Fendi

Tom Ford

Chopard

Dita

Ermenegildo Zegna

Persol

Versace

Objeto

Gafas de sol

Bufanda

Fular

Billetera

Cinturón

Pulsera

Gemelos

Conjunto de accesorios de moda

Sombrero

Estola (chal)

Collar

Cartera de mano/clutch

Monedero largo

Llavero

Corbata

Broche

Pendientes

Gorro de punto

Monedero de doble pliegue

Funda para agenda

Clip para billetes

Anteojos

Bolso/bolsa

Bolso

Accesorio para mascota

País de origen

EE. UU.

China

Desconocido

Escocia

Inglaterra

India

Vietnam

Gran Bretaña

Moldavia

Nepal

Eslovenia

Europa

América del Norte

Material

Seda

Metal

Cuero

Acetato

Metal chapado en oro

Lana

Lona revestida

Cachemir

Plástico

Bañado en oro

Algodón

Metal plateado

Acero

Tejido mixto

Lona

Vidrio

Oro rosa

Plata

Cristales

Nailon

Oro amarillo

Sintéticos

Resina

Género

Hombre

Mujer

Unisex

Estado

Estado nuevo o como nuevo, sin usar, con o sin el embalaje original

En muy buen estado, algo usado con algunos signos de desgaste

En buen estado, usado con algunos signos de desgaste

En excelente estado, apenas usado con mínimos signos de desgaste

Muy buen estado - ligeramente usado con pequeños signos de desgaste

Como nuevo, sin usar sin embalaje original

Como nuevo - sin usar

Nuevo

Excelente estado - apenas usado con mínimos signos de desgaste

Buen estado - usado con algunos signos de desgaste

En un estado muy usado, usado con signos de desgaste visibles

Vintage - usado con señales de desgaste

Excelente estado - apenas usado y con signos mínimos de los años y de desgaste

Buen estado - usado y con pequeños signos de los años y con imperfecciones

Estado razonable - usado con signos visibles de desgaste

En estado razonable, usado con signos visibles de desgaste

Buen estado - usado y con signos menores de los años

Nuevo/sin usar

Buen estado

Muy buen estado

Perfecto

Excelente estado

Sin usar

Nuevo, sin usar, con embalaje original

Nuevo/como nuevo

Período

Posterior a 2020

2000 - 2010

1980-1990

1990-2000

2010-2020

1970-1980

Finales del siglo XX

1900-1910

2020

2024

2026

Piedra

Diamante

Esmeralda

Accesorios de moda

Este objeto ya no está disponible, pero aún hay mucho para explorar

Eugène Delacroix (1798–1863) - Compositional Study for The Death of Hamlet

Popular en Accesorios de moda

2293 objetos

Colecciones relacionadas