The artwork titled “The Infant Shakespeare between Tragedy and Comedy” was created by the artist Henry Fuseli in 1805. It is a work from the Romanticism movement and specifically belongs to the genre known as literary painting. As a depiction inspired by the life and career of the renowned playwright William Shakespeare, the artwork resonates with the thematic and emotional complexity characteristic of the Romantic period.
In the artwork, we see an infant—representing Shakespeare—cradled in the arms of a serene and maternal figure that seems to embody the essence of drama. On either side of Shakespeare, there are two contrasting figures that represent the polar realms of Tragedy and Comedy, the genres Shakespeare mastered. To the left, Tragedy is personified by a somber female figure with a mournful expression and a pointed headdress, whereas Comedy is represented to the right by a spirited female character with a mischievous smile, adorned with a leafy crown, who is about to place a theatrical mask onto the infant’s face. The dark and foreboding background, coupled with the intimate cluster of characters, imbues the scene with an ethereal and dreamlike quality, highlighting the young bard’s nascent potential that would eventually unfold into a legacy of unprecedented literary achievements.
