Statue of William Shakespeare, Leicester Square

*William Shakespeare*
The statue in 2007, before cleaning
Artist	Giovanni Fontana
Type	Statue
Medium	Marble
Subject	William Shakespeare
Location	London, United Kingdom
Coordinates	51°30′37.2″N 0°7′48.3″W / 51.510333°N 0.130083°W / 51.510333; -0.130083Coordinates: 51°30′37.2″N 0°7′48.3″W / 51.510333°N 0.130083°W / 51.510333; -0.130083

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

1 2 Ward-Jackson 2011, p. 114
↑ Ward-Jackson 2011, pp. 112–13
↑ Ward-Jackson 2011, p. 113
↑ Historic England. "Details from listed building database (1221890)". National Heritage List for England. Retrieved 13 September 2014.
↑ "Shakespeare's statue in Leicester Square restored". BBC. 21 October 2012. Retrieved 7 August 2014.
↑ "Shakespeare Monument In Leicester Square Restored With New Water Features". 3rd Dimension. Public Monuments and Sculpture Association. 28 April 2014. Retrieved 10 December 2014.

Bibliography

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

External links

Media related to Statue of William Shakespeare at Leicester Square at Wikimedia Commons
Shakespeare statue returned to Leicester Square by Jaymi McCann (17 October 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

Public art and memorials in London

Statues

Monarchs	Richard I Charles I Charles II James II Anne St Paul's Westminster George III George IV George V George VI

Others	Alanbrooke Becket Bolívar Brunel Burns Cambridge Canning Chaplin Churchill Clive Cook Cromwell Derby Devonshire Disraeli Frere Freud Gagarin Gandhi Greathead Haig Havelock Herbert Holmes Irving Jenner Kitchener Lawson Lincoln Lloyd George Mandela Moore Montgomery Mountbatten Myddelton Napier Newman Nightingale Orwell Outram Palmerston Peel Raikes Reynolds Roberts San Martín Shakespeare Slim Smuts Trajan Wallenberg Washington Wellington City Hyde Park Corner Wesley St Paul's Shoreditch Westminster White Winehouse Wolseley

Memorials

War memorials

Pre-WWI	Animals in War Crimean War Gurkhas (1816–) Marble Arch New Zealand Campaign (1863–64) Royal Marines (1899–) Siege of Cádiz Westminster School

WWI WWII	Australia Baltic Exchange Battle of Britain Belgium Blood Swept Lands and Seas of Red Bromley Canada Cavalry The Cenotaph Chindits Chingford Chipping Barnet Civil Service Rifles Cockfosters Croydon La Délivrance Enfield Town (3 memorials) Finchley Flanders Fields Memorial Garden Fulham Golders Green Great Eastern Railway Great Western Railway Guards Division Hampton Wick Hendon Hornsey Imperial Camel Corps Islington London and North Western Railway London Troops Machine Gun Corps Memorial Gates Merchant Navy Monken Hadley New Barnet New Zealand Paddington Poland Poplar Rainham Royal Air Force Rifle Brigade RAF Bomber Command Royal Artillery Royal Fusiliers Royal Naval Division Royal Tank Regiment South Africa (Richmond) South Suburban Gas Company Southwark Submarines Women of World War II Wood Green

Post-WWII	Korean War

Fountains

Murals

Other works

Blue plaques

By borough

City of Westminster	Hyde Park Kensington Gardens (partly in Kensington and Chelsea) Paddington St Marylebone Architectural sculpture

City of London (not a London borough) Barking and Dagenham Barnet Bexley Brent Bromley Camden Croydon Ealing Enfield Greenwich Hackney Hammersmith and Fulham Haringey Harrow Havering Hillingdon Hounslow Islington Kensington and Chelsea Kingston Lambeth Lewisham Merton Newham Redbridge Richmond Southwark Sutton Tower Hamlets Waltham Forest Wandsworth

Organisations

Statues in London on Wikimedia Commons

William Shakespeare

Plays

Tragedies	Antony and Cleopatra Coriolanus 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 Cymbeline 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 Settings Quarto publications First Folio Second Folio

Poems

Life
and works

Legacy

* Shakespeare and other authors
Lost

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