About the year 1785, Alderman J. Boydell, of London, conceived the
project of establishing a 'Shakspeare Gallery,' upon a scale of grandeur
and magnificence which should be in accordance with the fame of the
poet, and, at the same time, reflect honor upon the state of the arts in
Great Britain and throughout the world. Mr. Boydell was at this time a
man of great wealth and influence, and a patron of the fine arts, being
an engraver himself, and having accumulated his fortune mostly by
dealings in works of that character.
He advertised for designs from artists throughout Great Britain, and
paid a guinea for every one submitted, whether accepted or not; and for
every one accepted by the committee, a prize of one hundred guineas. The
committee for selecting these designs was composed of five eminent
artists, Boydell himself being the president. The first painters of the
age were then employed to paint these pictures, among whom were Sir
Joshua Reynolds, Sir Benjamin West, Fusell, Romney, Northcote, Smirke,
Sir William Beechy, and Opie.
Allan Cunningham, in his 'Lives of Eminent British Artists,' mentions
that Sir Joshua Reynolds was at first opposed to Boydell's project, as
impracticable on such an immense scale, and Boydell, to gain his
approbation and assistance, privately sent him a letter enclosing a
£1000 Bank of England note, and requesting him to paint two pictures at
his own price. What sum was paid by Boydell for these pictures was never
known. A magnificent building was erected in Pall Mall to exhibit this
immense collection, called the Shakspeare Gallery, which was for a long
time the pride of London.
The first engravers of England were employed to transfer these gems to
copper, and such artists as Sharp, Bartolozzi, Earlom, Thew, Simon,
Middiman, Watson, Fyttler, Wilson, and many others, exerted their
talents for years in this great work. In some instances, the labor of
more than five years was expended on a single plate, and proof
impressions were taken for subscribers at almost every stage of the
work. At length in 1803, after nearly twenty years, the work was
completed. The price fixed (which was never reduced) was two guineas
each for the first three hundred impressions, and the subscription list
was then filled up at one guinea each, or one hundred guineas a set of
one hundred plates.
Besides these subscriptions, large donations were made by many of the
noblemen of England, to encourage the undertaking, and to enable Boydell
to meet his enormous outlay. The cost of the whole work, from the
commencement, is said to have been about one million pounds sterling;
and although the projector was a wealthy man when he commenced it, he
died soon after its completion, a bankrupt to the amount, it is said, of
£250,000.
After these plates were issued, Boydell petitioned Parliament to allow
him to dispose of his gallery of paintings by a lottery. The petition
was granted, and the whole collection was thus disposed of. One of the
finest of these pictures, King Lear, by Sir Benjamin West, is now in the
Boston Athenæum.
One fact in relation to these plates gives great value to them. "All the
principal historical characters are genuine portraits of the persons
represented in the play; every picture gallery and old castle in England
was ransacked to furnish these portraits."