Skip to main content

Othello and Desdemona (1856): 498

An image of Painting
View image details

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Alternative views

An image of Painting
An image of Painting
Current Location: In storage

Titles

Othello and Desdemona (1856)

Maker(s)

Painter: Frith, William Powell

Entities

Categories

Notes

History note: Exh. London, B.I., 1840 (306); again in the possession of the artist

Measurements and weight

Height: 55.9 cm
Width: 48.3 cm

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1862) by Ellison, Richard, Mrs

Dating

1840s
1850s
1840 - 1856

School or Style

British

People, subjects and objects depicted

Materials used in production

Oil paint

Components of the work

Support composed of canvas

Techniques used in production

Painting (image-making) : Oil on canvas

Inscription or legends present

  • Text: W.P. Frith
  • Location: Lower right
  • Type: Signature
  • Text: 1856
  • Location: Lower right
  • Type: Date
  • Text: gives the original Shakespeare reference & a quotation
  • Location: Verso
  • Type: Label

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: 498
Primary reference Number: 874

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Wednesday 15 October 2025

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "Othello and Desdemona (1856)" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/874 Accessed: 2025-12-05 09:50:45

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/874 |title=Othello and Desdemona (1856) |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 09:50:45|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-874

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp82/498_2_201209_adn21_dc2.jpg"
        alt="Othello and Desdemona (1856)"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">Othello and Desdemona (1856)</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...

University of Cambridge Museums logo
Cambridge City Council logo
Arts Council England Logo
Research England logo