Boydell Shakespeare Gallery

The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery once stood in Pall Mall, City of Westminster. It opened in the 1790s as the public face of John Boydell’s three-part plan to promote British art and literature. The gallery displayed large paintings of scenes from Shakespeare’s plays, commissioned from leading artists of the day. George Dance the Younger designed the building, and its construction was followed weekly in the press. The gallery quickly became the most popular element of Boydell’s project, drawing visitors eager to see the original works. Boydell chose George Steevens, a noted Shakespeare scholar, to oversee the illustrated edition of the plays. Among the painters he commissioned were Joshua Reynolds and Benjamin West, both recognised figures in British art. The plan also included a folio of engravings after the paintings, intended to reach a wider audience. The venture aimed to prove that British artists could excel in history painting, a field often criticised by foreign critics. Despite early enthusiasm, delays and rushed work later drew criticism of the final prints and books. Visitors to the gallery found a grand space filled with Shakespearean scenes in oils. The walls held works by Reynolds, West, Romney and others, each depicting moments from the plays. Newspapers reported on the exhibitions, turning them into fashionable public events. The gallery’s contents were later sold by lottery in 1805 after Boydell’s firm collapsed. Though the building itself is gone, the prints and books from the project remain as its lasting legacy.