The Gallery of Illustration for Shakespeare’s dramatic works
John Boydell The Gallery of Illustration for Shakespeare’s dramatic works
George Barrie, Philadelphia | 1884 | ISBN: N/A | 201 pages | DJVU | 50 MB
George Barrie, Philadelphia | 1884 | ISBN: N/A | 201 pages | DJVU | 50 MB
A selection of prints from an important series of illustrations of scenes from Shakespeare's plays. They are based on paintings commissioned by John Boydell (1719-1804) from leading British artists for his Shakespeare Gallery, a phenomenally successful project credited with changing the course of English painting by creating a market for historical and literary works. Boydell issued the first set of engravings based on the paintings in 1791, then published a nine-volume folio edition in 1802, and two-volume elephant folios of all the engravings based on the paintings in the gallery in 1803. These prints proved highly influential, "used repeatedly to illustrate the works of Shakespeare, and they appear in all sorts of modified, adapted, and borrowed forms in engravings and drawings that accompany the plays. Producers, directors and critics were all part of that public exposed to the Boydell prints" (Rusche).