In 1757, the actor

David Garrick David Garrick (19 February 1716 – 20 January 1779) was an English actor, playwright, Actor-manager, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of European theatrical practice throughout the 18th century, and was a pupil a ...

commissioned the sculptor

Louis-François Roubiliac Louis-François Roubiliac (or Roubilliac, or Roubillac) (31 August 1702 – 11 January 1762) was a French sculpture, sculptor who worked in England. One of the four most prominent sculptors in London working in the rococo style, he was described ...

to make a full-size marble statue of

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

for Garrick's octagonal Temple to Shakespeare, erected near his villa beside the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the The Isis, River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the Longest rivers of the United Kingdom, s ...

Hampton Hampton may refer to: Places Australia *Hampton bioregion, an IBRA biogeographic region in Western Australia * Hampton, New South Wales *Hampton, Queensland, a town in the Toowoomba Region * Hampton, Victoria ** Hampton railway station, Melbour ...

, to the west of London. The sculpture cost 300 guineas and was installed at Garrick's temple in 1758; it remained there until it was bequeathed to the

British Museum The British Museum is a Museum, public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is the largest in the world. It documents the story of human cu ...

along with Garrick's books in 1779. The sculpture was transferred to the new

British Library The British Library is the national library of the United Kingdom. Based in London, it is one of the largest libraries in the world, with an estimated collection of between 170 and 200 million items from multiple countries. As a legal deposit li ...

in 2005, where it is displayed on a new

travertine Travertine ( ) is a form of terrestrial limestone deposited around mineral springs, especially hot springs. It often has a fibrous or concentric appearance and exists in white, tan, cream-colored, and rusty varieties. It is formed by a process ...

plinth beside the main staircase in the main entrance hall. The sculpture depicts Shakespeare standing, leaning with his right arm on a lectern covered with a fringed cloth. His right foot is forward and body leaning to the right, with his hips thrust out awkwardly to the left. His right hand is holding a

quill pen A quill is a writing tool made from a moulted flight feather (preferably a primary wing-feather) of a large bird. Quills were used for writing with ink before the invention of the dip pen/metal- nibbed pen, the fountain pen, and, eventually, ...

while the left hand is raised to his chin with the index finger extended along the jawline, as if in thought. The figure is balding but bearded, with ringlets of hair at his temples. Rather than Tudor costume, he is wearing anachronistic 17th-century " Van Dyke" dress, including a shirt with an elaborate lace collar and cuffs; a long jacket with many buttons, but unbuttoned over the lower body; short trousers with fringed legs; stockings and heeled shoes; all draped in a billowing cloak. The art historian

Margaret Whinney Margaret Dickens Whinney (4 February 1897 – 1975) was a British art historian who taught at the Courtauld Institute of Art. Her published works included books on British sculpture and architecture. Life Whinney was the daughter of Thomas Bos ...

describes Roubiliac's bust as having "Van-Dyckian elegance" and notes that "he has greatly ennobled the head".

Design

The body of Shakespeare may be modelled on Garrick himself, and the head was based on the

Chandos portrait The Chandos portrait is an oil painted portrait thought to depict William Shakespeare (1564–1616). Painted between 1600 and 1610, it may have served as the basis for the engraved portrait of Shakespeare used in the ''First Folio'' in 1623. It ...

. Roubiliac worked from a copy of the Chandos portrait that he commissioned from

Joshua Reynolds Sir Joshua Reynolds (16 July 1723 – 23 February 1792) was an English painter who specialised in portraits. The art critic John Russell (art critic), John Russell called him one of the major European painters of the 18th century, while Lucy P ...

, now lost. The

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in the UK and ...

holds the copy of the portrait that Roubiliac made in c. 1758 from the Reynolds copy; this was given by Roubiliac to

Matthew Maty Matthew Maty (17 May 1718 – 2 July 1776), originally Matthieu Maty, was a Dutch physician and writer of Huguenot background, and after migration to England secretary of the Royal Society and the second principal librarian of the British Museu ...

, the first librarian of the British Museum, and transferred to the

Office of Works The Office of Works was an organisation responsible for structures and exterior spaces, first established as part of the English royal household in 1378 to oversee the building and maintenance of the royal castles and residences. In 1832 it be ...

in 1946. The posture is similar to the 1740 statue of Shakespeare made by

Peter Scheemakers Peter Scheemakers or Pieter Scheemaeckers II or the Younger (10 January 1691 – 12 September 1781) was a Southern Netherlands, Flemish sculptor who worked for most of his life in London. His public and church sculptures in a classicism, classici ...

for

William Kent William Kent (c. 1685 – 12 April 1748) was an English architect, landscape architect, painter and furniture designer of the early 18th century. He began his career as a painter, and became Principal Painter in Ordinary or court painter, b ...

's Monument to William Shakespeare in

Poets' Corner Poets' Corner is a section of the southern transept of Westminster Abbey in London, England, where many poets, playwrights, and writers are buried or commemorated. The first poet interred in Poets' Corner was Geoffrey Chaucer in 1400. Willia ...

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an Anglican church in the City of Westminster, London, England. Since 1066, it has been the location of the coronations of 40 English and British m ...

A 1762 portrait of Roubiliac by Adrien Carpentiers, now in the

National Portrait Gallery, London The National Portrait Gallery (NPG) is an art gallery in London that houses a collection of portraits of historically important and famous British people. When it opened in 1856, it was arguably the first national public gallery in the world th ...

, shows the sculptor working on a small terracotta maquette of the Shakespeare statue. A slightly different version of the painting, dated to 1769–1761 with callipers added to the stand for the statue, is held by the

Yale Center for British Art The Yale Center for British Art at Yale University in central New Haven, Connecticut, houses the largest and most comprehensive collection of British art outside the United Kingdom. The collection of paintings, sculpture, drawings, prints, rare ...

Copies

Several studies of the sculpture survive, and some moulds and plaster busts were sold in the studio sale after Roubiliac's death in 1762. A –high terracotta

maquette A ''maquette'' is a scale model or rough draft of an unfinished sculpture or work of architecture. The term is a loanword from French. An equivalent term is ''bozzetto'', a diminutive of the Italian word for a sketch. Sculpture A maquette ...

(a preliminary sketch model) of the whole statue dated to 1757 was bought by the

Victoria and Albert Museum The Victoria and Albert Museum (abbreviated V&A) in London is the world's largest museum of applied arts, decorative arts and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.8 million objects. It was founded in 1852 and named after Queen ...

in 1867. The

Folger Shakespeare Library The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materia ...

holds a second terracotta maquette dated to 1757, and also an 18th-century marble bust of Shakespeare after Roubiliac. A terracotta bust by Roubiliac was acquired by the

at the Roubiliac studio sale in 1762; it was cast in several pieces, with seam marks on the head, and a separate cast body with the join concealed by a high collar, and a plaster support. Another terracotta bust, dated to 1742 and sometimes erroneously known as the "Davenant bust", was presented to the

Garrick Club The Garrick Club is a private members' club in London, founded in 1831 as a club for "actors and men of refinement to meet on equal terms". It is one of the oldest members' clubs in the world. Its 1,500 members include many actors, writers, ...

by the

Duke of Devonshire Duke of Devonshire is a title in the Peerage of England held by members of the Cavendish family. This (now the senior) branch of the Cavendish family has been one of the wealthiest British aristocratic families since the 16th century and has b ...

in 1855–1856: it is thought to have been installed at the

Lincoln's Inn Fields Theatre Lisle's Tennis Court was a building off Portugal Street in Lincoln's Inn Fields in London. Originally built as a real tennis court, it was used as a playhouse during two periods, 1661–1674 and 1695–1705. During the early period, ...

. There is another bust in the

Royal Shakespeare Theatre The Royal Shakespeare Theatre (RST) (originally called the Shakespeare Memorial Theatre) is a Grade II* listed 1,040+ seat thrust stage theatre owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company dedicated to the English playwright and poet William Shakespea ...

Memorial Gallery at Stratford-upon-Avon, and a plaster version with bronze patina in the

State Library of New South Wales The State Library of New South Wales, part of which is known as the Mitchell Library, is a large heritage-listed special collections, reference and research library open to the public and is one of the oldest libraries in Australia. Establis ...

. File:Zoffany-Garricks Temple.jpg,

Johan Zoffany Johan / Johann Joseph Zoffany (born Johannes Josephus Zaufallij; 13 March 1733 – 11 November 1810) was a German Neoclassicism, neoclassical painter who was active mainly in England, Italy, and India. His works appear in many prominent Briti ...

, ''David Garrick and his Wife by his Temple to Shakespeare at Hampton'', c. 1762,

File:Louis François Roubiliac by Adrien Carpentiers (Carpentière, Charpentière).jpg, Adrien Carpentiers, ''Portrait of Louis-Francois Roubiliac'', 1762,

File:Adrien Carpentiers - Louis-Francois Roubiliac Modelling His Monument to Shakespeare - Google Art Project.jpg, Adrien Carpentiers, ''Louis-Francois Roubiliac Modelling His Monument to Shakespeare'', 1760–1761,

File:Louis François Roubiliac-William Shakespeare-British Museum.jpg, Roubiliac's terracotta bust of Shakespeare,

File:William Shakespeare in Westminster Abbey.jpg,

's monument to William Shakespeare in

References

The Shakespeare sculpture at the British Library
Jennifer Howes, Curator of Visual Arts, British Library, 11 November 2013
Terracotta portrait bust of William Shakespeare
British Museum
William Shakespeare, Sketch model
Victoria & Albert Museum
Terracotta bust
Garrick Club
Plaster bust with bronze finish
State Library of New South Wales
William Shakespeare (1564–1616) Playwright and Poet
Government Art Collection
''Louis François Roubiliac'', Adriaen Carpentiers, National Portrait Gallery, London
Art UK
''Louis François Roubiliac'', Adriaen Carpentiers
National Portrait Gallery, London
''Louis François Roubiliac'', Adriaen Carpentiers, Yale Center for British Art
Art UK
''Louis François Roubiliac'', Adriaen Carpentiers
Yale Center for British Art
Sculpture of Shakespeare: Study for statue for David Garrick's Shakespeare Temple
Folger Shakespeare Library
Bust-of-Shakespeare
Folger Shakespeare Library
"What place for public statues in the history of art?"
Apollo Magazine, Malcolm Baker, 8 July 2020

Metropolitan Museum of Art
''Sculpture in Britain, 1530–1830''
Margaret Whinney, Yale University Press, 1992 , pp. 224–226

External links

* {{Portraits and sculptures of William Shakespeare Memorials to William Shakespeare British Library collections 1757 sculptures Statues in London