Statue of William Shakespeare, Leicester Square

A statue of William Shakespeare, sculpted by Giovanni Fontana after an original by Peter Scheemakers, has formed the centrepiece of Leicester Square Gardens, London, since 1874. The marble figure, copied from Scheemakers' 18th-century monument to Shakespeare in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey,^[1] stands on a pedestal flanked by dolphins at the centre of a fountain. It is the result of improvements to the gardens made by the financier Albert Grant, who bought the Square in 1874 and had it refurbished to a design by James Knowles.^[2]

The scroll held by Shakespeare is inscribed with a quotation from Twelfth Night (Act IV, Scene II), THERE IS NO DARKNESS BUT IGNORANCE, where the original in Poets' Corner has a misquoted passage from The Tempest. The Leicester Square statue also differs from its model in omitting reliefs of Henry V, Richard III and Elizabeth I from the plinth on which Shakespeare rests.^[1] The inscription on the pedestal in Leicester Square reads:

THIS ENCLOSURE/ WAS PURCHASED, LAID OUT/ AND DECORATED AS A GARDEN/ BY ALBERT GRANT ESQ[UI]RE M.P./ AND/ CONVEYED BY HIM ON THE 2ND JULY 1874/ TO THE/ METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS/ TO BE PRESERVED FOR EVER/ FOR THE FREE USE AND ENJOYMENT/ OF THE PUBLIC^[3]

The statue is listed at Grade II.^[4] In 2012 it underwent restoration,^[5] and the cleaning was completed and new water features added in 2014.^[6]

The original memorial in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey  The Leicester Square statue after cleaning, in 2014

References

Bibliography

• Ward-Jackson, Philip (2011), Public Sculpture of Historic Westminster: Volume 1, Public Sculpture of Britain, Liverpool: Liverpool University Press 

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Statue of William Shakespeare at Leicester Square.

• Shakespeare statue returned to Leicester Square by Jaymi McCann (October 17, 2012), London Evening Standard
• Bard restored to Leicester Square by Matthew Amer, Official London Theatre (2013)

Portraits, sculptures and memorials to William Shakespeare Portraits Chandos portrait attributed to John Taylor Droeshout portrait Martin Droeshout Disputed Ashbourne portrait Cobbe portrait Flower portrait Sanders portrait Sculptures Shakespeare's funerary monument Gerard Johnson Statues Central Park, New York Leicester Square, London Memorials Boydell Shakespeare Gallery Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare

William Shakespeare Plays Tragedies Antony and Cleopatra Coriolanus Cymbeline Hamlet Julius Caesar King Lear Macbeth Othello Romeo and Juliet Sir Thomas More* Timon of Athens Titus Andronicus Troilus and Cressida Comedies All's Well That Ends Well As You Like It The Comedy of Errors Love's Labour's Lost Measure for Measure The Merchant of Venice The Merry Wives of Windsor A Midsummer Night's Dream Much Ado About Nothing Pericles, Prince of Tyre* The Taming of the Shrew The Tempest Twelfth Night The Two Gentlemen of Verona The Two Noble Kinsmen* The Winter's Tale Cardenio* Love's Labour's Won Histories King John Edward III* Richard II 1 Henry IV 2 Henry IV Henry V 1 Henry VI 2 Henry VI 3 Henry VI Richard III Henry VIII* See also Problem plays Late romances Characters A–K L–Z Chronology Performances Quarto publications First Folio Second Folio Poems Shakespeare's Sonnets comparison Venus and Adonis The Rape of Lucrece The Phoenix and the Turtle The Passionate Pilgrim* A Lover's Complaint Life and works Birthplace and childhood home Apocrypha Bibliography Complete Works of William Shakespeare Translations Early editions Editors English Renaissance theatre Family Globe Theatre Handwriting Lord Chamberlain's Men The Theatre Curtain Theatre New Place home Portraits Religion Sexuality Spelling of his name Stratford-upon-Avon Style Legacy Attribution studies Authorship question Influence Memorials Screen adaptations Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Folger Shakespeare Library Shakespeare Quarterly Shakespeare's Globe (replica) Titles of works taken from Shakespeare * Shakespeare and other authors Lost Commons Wikibooks Wikiquote Wikisource texts