Regency Hot Spots: The Shakespeare Gallery

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Initiated in November 1786, the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery at 52 Pall Mall was the brain child of engraver and publisher John Boydell who, hoping to capitalize on the 18th century prosperity of Shakespeare, wished to revive contemporary British art (https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/john-boydells-shakespeare-gallery-1789-1805).  Housed in former Dodsley’s bookshop, George Dance the younger had supervised the remodel which included an exterior in copper, an entrance with a relief of Shakespeare reclining against a rock, and a 130 ground floor exhibition suite.  Upstairs three rooms provided an additional 4,000 square feet of exhibition space on the walls, which by the end of the gallery had 167 canvases by 33 artists (https://romanticillustrationnetwork.com/shakespeare-gallery/)

John Peter Simon after Henry Fuseli, Midsummer Night’s Dream, Act IV, Scene I: A Wood

By the 1790s, the London gallery was the most popular part of Boydell’s efforts which also included an illustrated edition of Shakespeare’s plays.  Most visitors were middle class Londoners, swayed by “Boydell’s flattering marketing” campaigns which lauded subscribers as “patrons of native genius” who promoted British art (https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/john-boydells-shakespeare-gallery-1789-1805).  Prints were issued for national and international consumers, and Boydell was seen as a pioneer for marrying fine arts and capitalism.

The Shakespeare Gallery Pall Mall This splendid plan of decorating the works of our greatest poet with the designs of our best artists has been many years in progress but is now within one number complete The large and small pictures from which the prints are copied are exhibited in Pall Mall admission one shilling The Picture of London (1802)

Here is an 1803 contemporary’s assessment:

rical painting The Shakespeare Gallery in Pall Mall is in every point of view an object of national honor and the performances there exhibited place many of our native artists high on the list of masters To Alderman Boydell the nation is also indebted for the state of perfection to which the art of engraving is arrived in Great Britain A few years back all the fine engravings sold in London were imported from foreign countries at present the reverse is the case for very few prints are imported and many exported to a considerable amount annually He who refines the public taste says Doctor Johnson is a public benefactor that the respectable Alderman has very greatly contributed to this object cannot be disputed and the BoYDELL SHAKESPEARE will long remain evidence of the fact of which Englishmen may well be proud for such another united specimen of merit as to painting engraving and printing was certainly never produced in the world Clio, or a discourse on taste. Addressed to a lady. A new edition, with the addition of notes, anecdotes, and quotations (1803)

The project caused the Boydell firm to become insolvent, and they were forced to sell the gallery at a lottery. The July 1805 edition of The Lady’s Monthly Museum had a feature on the sales:






Learn more:

1793 catalogue of the Gallery

Read this excellent article from the British Library which includes a gallery of many of the paintings: https://www.bl.uk/shakespeare/articles/john-boydells-shakespeare-gallery-1789-1805

http://www.whatjanesaw.org/1796/about.php

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2 Responses to Regency Hot Spots: The Shakespeare Gallery

  1. Susan Macdonald says:
    July 22, 2021 at 9:35 am

    Might be able to work this into a story as something a respectable lady could do in London.

    • Anne says:
      July 22, 2021 at 2:25 pm

      I hope so! One of my main goals in locating these tidbits is that someday they may be an inspiration for an author!