Othello and Desdemona in Venice

Chassériau's Othello and Desdemona in Venice of 1850 translates Shakespeare's tragedy into the Venetian setting with characteristic chromatic richness — the moor and his Venetian wife against the architectural backdrop of the Canal Grande, their racial and social difference creating the visual tension that will prove fatal. Chassériau was drawn to Shakespeare's interracial relationships throughout his career, perhaps because his own mixed Creole heritage gave him personal engagement with questions of racial identity and social transgression that Shakespeare's tragedies dramatized with enduring power.

Chassériau renders the lovers in a warm, golden Venetian interior with his characteristic blend of precise drawing and luminous color. The intimate composition and the richly decorated setting create an atmosphere of doomed romantic intensity.