#sideside

The Croquet Party

Artist: Edouard Manet (French, 1832-1883

Date: 1871

Medium: Oil on canvas

The Young Hamlet

Artist: Philip Hermogenes Calderon (British, 1833–1898)

Date: 1868

Medium: Oil on canvas

Collection: Private Collection

Description

Philip Hermogenes Calderon’s The Young Lord Hamlet (1868) is unusual in depicting the Prince in happier days before the death of his father. Hamlet plays the fool to entertain a young child, while three female relatives rest under some trees.

The ghost of King Hamlet appears again and tells his son in confidence that he was murdered in his sleep by Claudius, after his brother had seduced the queen. The ghost tells his son to seek vengeance, but to spare Gertrude. The Prince swears his companions to secrecy and warns them that he might choose to pretend madness.

Laertes’ father Polonius sends a spy to keep an eye on his son in France. Ophelia tells her father that Hamlet has apparently gone mad, which Polonius decides to pass on to the king. The King and Queen welcome two student companions of the prince, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who are then sent to discover why Hamlet has gone mad. The ambassador sent to Norway returns to inform the king that Fortinbras is to take on Poland instead of Denmark.

Hamlet plays mad with Polonius, before meeting Rosencrantz and Guildenstern, who tell the Prince that a company of players is about to arrive. The Prince privately asks the players to perform The Murder of Gonzago before the King and Queen, with a special speech of his own added to its script. This is to enable him to assess the guilt of Claudius.