The Tragic Actor (Rouvière in the role of Hamlet)

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 of Art in Washington, D.C. He completed the painting and made this print after the actor’s death, possibly as a tribute.