O Spartan dog, plate fifteen from Othello
Medium
Etching, engraving, roulette and drypoint on ivory China paper, laid down on white wove paper
Dimensions
Image: 28.8 × 36 cm (11 3/8 × 14 3/16 in.); Chine: 29.7 × 37.9 cm (11 3/4 × 14 15/16 in.); Plate: 32.1 × 39.8 cm (12 11/16 × 15 11/16 in.); Sheet: 38.4 × 49.4 cm (15 1/8 × 19 1/2 in.)
Classification
etching
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
40780
Art Historical Context
In 1844, artist Théodore Chassau, a prodigious talent bridging Romanticism and Neoclassicism under the influences of Ingres and Delacroix, created *O Spartan dog*, plate fifteen from his rare series of etchings inspired by Shakespeare's tragedy *Othello*. This image captures a dramatic moment echoing Othello's anguished cry in Act 5—"O dog"—as he confronts and jealousy. At just 24, Chassériau's venture into Shakespearean illustration was innovative, blending literary drama with his signature precision and exotic intensity, appealing to 19th-century audiences enamored with English literature. ...
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...