"O Spartan dog": plate 15 from Othello (Act 5, Scene 2)
Medium
Etching, engraving, roulette, drypoint, aquatint or sulphur tint on chine collé
Dimensions
sheet: 25 x 19 1/4 in. (63.5 x 48.9 cm) plate: 12 5/8 x 15 7/8 in. (32.1 x 40.4 cm) image: 11 5/16 x 14 5/8 in. (28.7 x 37.2 cm)
Classification
Prints
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1932
Accession Number
32.7.15
Tags
Art Historical Context
This striking print captures the tragic climax of Shakespeare’s *Othello*, specifically Act 5, Scene 2. Théodore Chassériau’s 1844 illustration depicts the moment of Desdemona’s death, with the title quoting Othello’s bitter reference to the treacherous Iago as a “Spartan dog.” Created during the height of the Romantic era, the work reflects the 19th-century fascination with Shakespeare across Europe, as artists sought to translate the emotional intensity of his plays into visual form. Chassériau, a French artist trained under Ingres yet drawn to the dramatic energy of Delacroix, employed an ...
About the Artist
Théodore Chassériau|William Shakespeare · 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...