Thomas Stothard. The Meeting of Othello and Desdemona, c. 1799.


Oil on paper, approximately 8 x 10 inches. Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, Connecticut.


This small oil sketch was a study for a larger painting now in the collection of the Royal Shakespeare Company at Stratford-upon-Avon. It depicts Act II, Scene i, of Othello when Othello arrives in Cyprus and is greeted by Desdemona. Emilia in a black dress stands to the right of Desdemona, and Michael Cassio stands behind Emilia to her right. Marginalized on the far right of the picture is Iago, looking appropriately sinister and lowering as he contemplates the newlyweds, Othello and Desdemona.


The painting was engraved in 1799 by Thomas Ryder; the engraving is Plate XLVI in The Boydell Shakespeare Prints where it is entitled "Othello. Act II, Scene I. A Platform."