Beatrice and Benedict, Act I: Nocturne, from Hector Berlioz's Opera "Beatrice and Benedict (1862)"
c. 1888
Medium
Lithograph in black on off-white China paper laid down on white wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 22.6 × 15.7 cm (8 15/16 × 6 3/16 in.); Sheet: 30.8 × 22 cm (12 3/16 × 8 11/16 in.)
Classification
lithograph
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
44124
Rights
Public Domain
About this artwork
Here Henri Fantin-Latour depicted a scene from Béatrice et Bénédict, Hector Berlioz’s 1862 opera version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing. In this moody nighttime scene from the lighthearted opera, Héro and her maidservant, Ursule, discuss Héro’s love for the young Claudio. The moon is high in the sky, and the two young women are shrouded in darkness as they talk and embrace one another.
About the Artist
Henri Fantin-Latour · 1836–1904
Ignace Henri Jean Théodore Fantin-Latour was born on January 14, 1836, in Grenoble, France, to portrait painter Théodore Fantin-Latour, who gave him his earliest drawing lessons. The family relocated to Paris in 1841, where in 1850, at age 14, he enrolled in the École de Dessin, studying under Horace Lecoq de Boisbaudran, whose innovative memory-based method of drawing from observation profoundly ...