3-098-888 - Heritage Art/Heritage Images

Desdemona, 1887. Scene from Shakespeare's "Othello": a sorrowful Desdemona is alone in her room, the gloom relieved only by the dim glow of an oil lamp. She is seated on a carved wooden bench, wearing a silk dress richly adorned with jewellery. She wipes her eyes with the very delicate lace handkerchief around which the plot of the tragedy revolves. It will also be the instrument used by the ruthless Othello to strangle his innocent wife.