Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery

At the beginning of the eighteenth century, art exhibitions open to the general public did not exist in England. Paintings went on display in auction rooms and coffee houses, and some artists had small collections of their work on show in their studios. With a proper introduction, one could arrange to visit a few private aristocratic collections, but opportunities for the general population to engage with art were few and far between.

The model for the display and sale of art changed with the establishment of the Royal Academy of Arts in 1768. Founded with a charter granted by King George III, the Royal Academy existed as a quasi-public, quasi-private institution. Its royal origins and immediate proximity to surrounding government offices imbued it with state authority, yet the Academy received no state funding, and its governance fell to the artists themselves. This intermixing of worlds created a hybrid cultural authority which would come to dominate the British art world for the next hundred years. Other exhibition societies soon followed in the Academy's wake, concentrating art commerce in a handful of locations.

The Shakespeare Gallery, the preeminent commercial counterpart to the Academy’s annual exhibitions at Somerset House, opened in Pall Mall in 1789. Its main proprietor, John Boydell, wished to create a distinctly-British school of history painting, and commissioned many well-known British artists to paint images from Shakespeare’s plays. Leading members of the Academy such as Sir Joshua Reynolds contributed their works to the project in exchange for large fees, and the gallery soon became a fashionable place to frequent as part of the new activity of ‘picture-going.’ Though it was by far the most popular and successful of the literary galleries, the Shakespeare Gallery did have imitators such as Macklin’s Poets’ Gallery and Henry Fuseli’s short-lived Milton Gallery. These exhibition spaces reflected a growing national interest in articulating a shared British identity; through curating displays of British art by British artists, literary galleries tapped into (and profited off of) people's desire to define what made the British people different from the rest of the world. As well as spaces to display art, the galleries served as retail outlets where people could buy print versions of the paintings on view. These keepsakes functioned both as reminders of the immersive gallery experience—a key selling point that encouraged customers to return—as well as highly-effective marketing materials.

By the end of the eighteenth century, Britain had experienced the broad shifts of trends such as industrialization and urbanization, as well as pivotal events like the French Revolution and the anti-Catholic Gordon Riots of 1780. These major societal, cultural, and political fluctuations fostered a widespread sense of cultural anxiety, causing people to seek out spectacular amusements to distract from their turbulent environment. The British public's desire for spectacle manifested in the wide variety of entertainments available in London at the end of the eighteenth century. This selection included phantasmagoria, a form of horror theater which utilized noises, light projections, and other visuals to create a thrilling, otherworldly atmosphere. Another option, panorama, involved a custom-designed round painting which gave the illusion that the viewer really stood in the space depicted. Panorama exhibitions recreated familiar vistas such as views of the Thames, as well as more-exotic or even fictional locales. Exchange from the continent facilitated these kinds of entertainments, with the French exporting some of the first phantasmagoria shows and oddities such as Madame Tussaud's wax figures. Other novelties included mechanized automata and variations of the panorama such as dioramas, cycloramas, and cosmoramas, both as stand-alone attractions as well as supplements to theater or pantomime productions.

Boydell's gallery represented but one of many options for a population seeking distraction from the eighteenth century's instability. However, unlike some other forms of entertainment, the Shakespeare Gallery presented an opportunity to engage in the trend of public spectacle while still maintaining a sense of cultural sophistication. While questions about national identity swirled across Europe, the figure of Shakespeare helped ground Britain in a sense of cultural nationalism and foster a sense of British pride. Boydell's gallery certainly capitalized on this nationalist spirit, creating a form of elevated, intellectual, and definitively-British popular entertainment.

At the time of the Shakespeare Gallery's conception in 1786, John Boydell had already made a lucrative career for himself as an engraver. Also backing the project were Boydell's nephew Josiah Boydell and George Nicol, Bookseller to King George III.

Born in Shropshire in the northwest of England, Boydell recognized his vocation as an engraver relatively late, and at the age of twenty entered into apprenticeship with London engraver William Henry Toms in 1741. After completing his apprenticeship and working independently for a few years, Boydell decided to set up shop in London's Cheapside in 1751. He soon took on apprentices himself and quickly recognized the demand for international prints. The enterprising Boydell taught himself French and forged continental connections, leading to an explosion of his business. In the late 1750s, he began to expand into the publishing world, and slowly but surely grew as a public presence in London society, rising to public office and frequenting court.

Boydell's 1786 gallery prospectus makes clear that the project was first and foremost a publication venture, advertising in bold print:

To accompany these texts, the publishers also intended to release

Finally, in small print, the prospectus mentions that these prints would be copied

It seems that this gallery of pictures was, in the eyes of its proprietors, the least-important (i.e. the least commercially-viable) aspect of their endeavor. After all, prints could be mass-produced and consumed by customers in all corners of the globe, while a gallery required a customer's physical presence in order to make money.

Despite its intrinsically-commercial nature, Boydell's project relied heavily upon his artists' Academic credentials for legitimacy. Though the gallery received plenty of positive responses, especially in its initial stages, the concept of commercialized history painting, long upheld as the highest genre of art, brought criticism. Cartoonist James Gillray's images reflect some of the more biting critiques that Boydell faced. Following an incident in 1791 in which a patron took a knife to several of the gallery's paintings, Gillray jumped to criticize Boydell, suggesting that he had orchestrated the event to create even more publicity for himself.

Visitors entered the building from the street and ascended a staircase which led to exhibition rooms on the second floor. Entering first into the Middle Room, visitors used a numbered catalogue which directed them throughout the gallery. Beginning in the North Room, their designated path wrapped around the walls of each room in turn. After finishing their viewing in the South Room, gallery-goers exited via the staircase they had entered.

 What Jane Saw , a digital project by Dr. Janine Barchas at the University of Texas, Austin, recreates two London exhibitions that Jane Austen and her family likely visited: the Shakespeare Gallery as it appeared in 1796, and the 1813 Sir Joshua Reynolds retrospective, both hosted at 52 Pall Mall. The Shakespeare Gallery evolved constantly over its fifteen-year run, making it impossible to present a monolithic view of its contents. Barchas chose to capture the year 1796 both due to Austen's probable visit, as well as the fact that it represents a highpoint for the gallery in terms of its size.

The following images combine digital reconstructions of the gallery from What Jane Saw with labels identifying the subject, artist, and catalogue number of each painting, providing insight into the gallery's organization. As demonstrated below, there was no singular method of grouping paintings; at times, works were hung together according to artist, subject matter, or genre. Of course, practical concerns regarding wall space also influenced the paintings' display.

Explore What Jane Saw and read more about the history of Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery  here .

Out of the 167 total paintings that hung in the gallery from 1789-1804, only a small portion remain extant. These surviving works now reside in the collections of institutions like the Folger Shakespeare Library, the Cincinnati Art Museum, the Tate Britain, the Yale Center for British Art, and the Royal Shakespeare Company, among others.

3.)  Merry Wives of Windsor 4.2, James Durno  — Sir John Soane's Museum

6.)  Much Ado About Nothing 2.1, Rev. Matthew William Peters  — Carnegie Museum of Art

10.)  Midsummer Night's Dream 4.1, Henry Fuseli  — Tate Britain

11.)  Cymbeline 2.2, James Barry  — National Gallery of Ireland

12.)  Othello 2.1, Thomas Stothard  — Royal Shakespeare Company

13.)  As You Like It 2.1, William Hodges  — Yale Center for British Art

20.)  King John 4.1, James Northcote  — Royal Shakespeare Company

23.)  Henry VI, Pt. 2 3.3, Sir Joshua Reynolds  — Petworth House and Park, West Sussex

27.)  Richard III 4.3, James Northcote  — Petworth House and Park, West Sussex

30.)  King Lear 3.4, Benjamin West  — Detroit Institute of Art

31.)  King Lear 5.3, James Barry  — Tate Britain

38.)  Two Gentlemen of Verona 5.3, Angelica Kauffman  — Victoria and Albert Museum

45.)  Twelfth Night 3.4, John Henry Ramberg  — Yale Center for British Art

46.)  Twelfth Night 5.1, William Hamilton  — Yale Center for British Art

54.)  Timon of Athens 4.3, John Opie  — Bolton Museum and Art Gallery

55.)  Troilus and Cressida 5.2, Angelica Kauffmann  — Petworth House and Park, West Sussex

79.)  Macbeth 4.1, Sir Joshua Reynolds  — Petworth House and Park, West Sussex

82.)  Hamlet 4.5, Benjamin West  — Cincinnati Art Museum

Finale.)  The Infant Shakespeare, Attended by Nature and the Passions, George Romney  — Folger Shakespeare Library

Boydell drew from the ranks of the Royal Academy to populate his gallery with paintings. Some of these artists, such as Sir Joshua Reynolds and Angelica Kauffman, had acquired lengthy academic pedigrees over the course of their careers. However, not all of the artists on show in the gallery possessed the same level of illustrious credentials. Boydell's catalogues take special care to mention the Academic connections of artists with particularly distinguished reputations, elevating the status of himself and his other artists in the process.

Out of the 83 paintings depicting Shakespeare's plays which hung in the gallery in 1796, the following artists produced the greatest number of works:

1. James Northcote: 9
2. Henry Fuseli: 8
3. Robert Smirke: 7
4. William Hamilton: 6
5. Rev. Matthew William Peters; John Opie: 5
6. Josiah Boydell; Francis Wheatley: 4
7. Sir Joshua Reynolds: 3

Despite his prominence as an artist, Reynolds' relatively sparse representation can be explained by his death a few years prior in 1792. Yet, gallery catalogues make clear that Boydell was eager to feature Reynolds as the gallery's headliner due to his artistic prestige.

Using the First Folio's categories of 'Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies,' the 1796 gallery contains the following distribution of genres:

1. Comedy: 35 paintings
2. History: 27 paintings
3. Tragedy: 21 paintings

The graphic above comes from the network analysis program  Palladio , and was created by cross-referencing a list of the gallery's artists with the genres of their respective paintings. This reveals not only the number of paintings that fell into each genre, but also the number of paintings a single artist contributed, as well as the genres in which each artist worked. The only artists to work in all three genres were John Opie, Sir Joshua Reynolds, and Henry Fuseli. Based on this network, Boydell seemed to rely heavily on James Northcote for more serious historic and tragic subjects.

All of Shakespeare's plays follow the Five Act Structure. Act I, the exposition, sets the scene for the audience, providing them with the background necessary to understand the plot. In Act II, events begin to unfold which lead to the climax of Act III, the turning point of the plot. In Act IV, events begin to resolve, and the plot concludes with Act V's final resolution.

Distribution of Acts in the 1796 Gallery:

1. Act IV: 23 paintings
2. Act V: 19 paintings
3. Act II: 16 paintings
4. Act III: 13 paintings
5. Act I: 11 paintings

42 out of 83 paintings (50.6%) depict scenes either in Acts IV or V. This suggests that Boydell recognized his audience's desire to see the endings of Shakespeare's plays. Scenes from earlier acts which set up the plot proved less necessary, as viewers would have read these works before and wanted the satisfaction of viewing a familiar narrative's conclusion.

Out of these 42 paintings that depict scenes from acts IV and V, 19 depict scenes from a comedy, while 23 depict moments from a history or tragedy. As mentioned, comedy is overall the most-represented genre in the gallery. However, this virtual half-and-half genre split between these later-act paintings demonstrates that Boydell relied equally on both feel-good comedic endings as well as the spectacle of tragic endings to satisfy his viewership.

Ironically, the same cultural instability which fueled interest in popular entertainment also spelled the end of the Shakespeare Gallery. The French Revolution and its aftermath ultimately decimated Boydell’s French and continental client base; faced with financial insolvency, the gallery closed in 1804, and the paintings went up for sale by lottery. The lottery was drawn in January 1805, about a month after Boydell's death.

Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery represents a brief moment in which a distinctly-British school of art flourished, and stands as crucial point in the development of the modern gallery system. It embodies the culture of urban spectacle present in late-eighteenth-century London, and reflects the Bard's significance to British culture in the eighteenth century. The two reverential portraits which bookended a gallery-goer's experience indicate the status to which Shakespeare had risen during this period. On the facade of the gallery sat Thomas Banks's Shakespeare seated between the Dramatic Muse and the Genius of Painting, a depiction which links Shakespeare to the Classical poetic tradition. After completing their journey around the gallery, a kind of directed pilgrimage, viewers would exit the space by walking beneath George Romney's painting The Infant Shakespeare, Attended by Nature and the Passions. Romney emulates an Adoration of the Christ Child scene, emphasizing the hagiographical trajectory of Shakespeare's life — even from birth, he was destined for greatness. These promotional tactics helped cement the gallery's status as a cultural destination, a Shakespearean shrine to which every dutiful British citizen ought to pay tribute (and money).

Seeking both entertainment to distract from the turbulent world around them, as well as answers to the questions this turbulence produced, the British public flocked to the figure of Shakespeare as a literary genius beyond the mortal plane, a timeless national icon who remained above the influence of uncertain politics and societal upheavals. Beyond mere commercialized 'Bardolatry,' Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery bridged the gap between high and low art, promoting a common cultural identity in which people from all walks of British life could take pride.