The Puritan
Engraver Henry Meyer British
After Edward Prentis British
Publisher Boys and Graves British
Not on view
This image is based on a painting by Middiman and Romney showing Jaques, a melancholic courtier in As You Like It, exiled to the Forest of Arden. He lies at the foot of an ancient tree on the bank of a stream, looking at a stag. The work was conceived for John Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery, launched in 1786 as a publishing-cum-exhibition scheme that included a new illustrated edition of the plays, sets of large and small engravings, and a gallery on London's Pall Mall. The latter opened in 1789 with thirty-four paintings and contained about one hundred and seventy works the time Boydell went bankrupt and auctioned the contents in 1805–his print sales plummeted when Napoleon blocaded European ports.
