Beatrice and Benedict, Act I: Nocturne, from Hector Berlioz's Opera "Beatrice and Benedict (1862)"

c. 1888

Dating: Approximate date range
Held at: Art Institute of Chicago
Medium: Lithograph in black on off-white China paper laid down on white wove paper
Dimensions: Image: 22.6 × 15.7 cm (8 15/16 × 6 3/16 in.); Sheet: 30.8 × 22 cm (12 3/16 × 8 11/16 in.)
Collection no.: 1927.2983
Attribution: By the artist

About this artwork

Beatrice and Benedict, Act I: Nocturne, from Hector Berlioz's Opera "Beatrice and Benedict (1862)" — Henri Fantin-Latour. c. 1888.

Medium: Lithograph in black on off-white China paper laid down on white wove paper. Dimensions: Image: 22.6 × 15.7 cm (8 15/16 × 6 3/16 in.); Sheet: 30.8 × 22 cm (12 3/16 × 8 11/16 in.).

Collection record: Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago. Museum connection according to this source; current display unverified.

Here Henri Fantin-Latour depicted a scene from Béatrice et Bénédict , Hector Berlioz’s 1862 opera version of Shakespeare’s Much Ado about Nothing . In this moody nighttime scene from the lighthearted opera, Héro and her maidservant, Ursule, discuss Héro’s love for the young Claudio. The moon is high in the sky, and the two young women are shrouded in darkness as they talk and embrace one another.

Description: © Art Institute of Chicago, original record, CC BY 4.0. HTML formatting removed; wording retained. Other artwork metadata: CC0.

Source: official collection record. Metadata selected and normalized by Artline from the source export, accessed 10 September 2026; no museum endorsement. Reproduction rights are separate.

Location checked Sep 10, 2026. This does not indicate whether the work is on display.

Artwork sources