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Shakespeare Seated Between the Dramatic Muse and the Genius of Painting, from "Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery"

1797
Not on view
This frontipiece to Boydell's 1797 edition of "Shakespeare's Works" reproduces a sculpture by Joseph Banks that adorned the facade of the Shakespeare Gallery on London's Pall Mall. The playwright sits between the Dramatic Muse, who lauds him with a lyre and laurel wreath, and an allegorical representation of Painting. Opened in 1788, the gallery eventually contained about 170 paintings of subjects from the plays painted by London artists. When Napoleon's naval blockade undercut British trade with Europe, Boydell lost crucial revenue and went bankrupt. After the gallery's contents were dispersed by lottery in 1805 the building was leased by the British Institution through 1867, then demolished. Banks's sculpture was moved in 1868 to the gardens at New Place in Stratford-upon-Avon (the site of a house owned by Shakespeare from 1597 and now part of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Shakespeare Seated Between the Dramatic Muse and the Genius of Painting, from "Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery"
  • Series/Portfolio: Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery
  • Engraver: James Stow (British, near Maidstone, Kent 1770–after 1823)
  • Artist: After Thomas Banks (British, London 1735–1805 London)
  • Publisher: John & Josiah Boydell (British, 1786–1804)
  • Subject: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
  • Published in: London
  • Date: 1797
  • Medium: Etching and engraving
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 12 3/8 × 6 7/8 in. (31.5 × 17.4 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, 1958
  • Object Number: 58.524.9
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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