Honest Iago, my Desdemona must I leave to thee, plate four from Othello
Medium
Etching, engraving, roulette and drypoint on light gray China paper laid down on white wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 28.4 × 21.2 cm (11 3/16 × 8 3/8 in.); Chine: 29.2 × 21.9 cm (11 1/2 × 8 5/8 in.); Plate: 36.5 × 26.6 cm (14 3/8 × 10 1/2 in.); Sheet: 57 × 40.8 cm (22 1/2 × 16 1/8 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
83875
Art Historical Context
Théodore Chassériau's *Honest Iago, my Desdemona must I leave thee*, plate four from his 1844 *Othello* series, a pivotal moment from Shakespeare's. Here, the Moorish general Othello entrusts his beloved Desdemona to hisming ensign Iago before departing for war—a line fraught with dramatic irony, as Iago's manipulations will soon unravel their fates. Created when Chassériau was 24, this print reflects the young French artist's Romantic fascination with literature and emotion, bridging Neoclassical precision (influenced by his teacher Ingres) with the expressive drama of Delacroix. Printed usi...
About the Artist
Théodore Chassériau · 1819–1856
Théodore Chassériau was born on September 20, 1819, in El Limón, Samaná, in the Spanish colony of Santo Domingo — present-day Dominican Republic — to a French father and a Creole mother. The family relocated to Paris in 1820, and the young Chassériau's exceptional talent was evident almost immediately. At just eleven years old, in 1830, he was accepted into the prestigious studio of Jean-Auguste-D...