Immortalizing Shakespeare

Shakespeare Between The Dramatic Muse and The Genius of Painting. Engraving, 1796. Click to enlarge.

If it wasn’t for an 18th-century businessman named John Boydell, Shakespeare might not be the household name he is today.

As the Folger Shakespeare Library, located in Washington, D. C., celebrates 75 years, Texas Tech English professor Ann Hawkins will travel to Capitol Hill to serve as guest curator of a special exhibit which opened Sept. 20 and runs through Jan. 5, 2008.

The exhibit, Marketing Shakespeare: The Boydell Gallery (1789–1805) and Beyond showcases how the commissioned artwork and products of Boydell’s gallery brought scenes from The Bard’s work into the living rooms of the aristocracy and gentry.

Boydell’s gallery and catalogues of prints served as a powerful step toward immortalizing Shakespeare and making him a household name in mainstream 18th-century England.

“Shakespeare wouldn’t be as iconic without Boydell,” Hawkins said.

A savvy salesman, successful politician and well-known patron of the arts, Boydell made his fortune by creating and selling engraved prints from famous collections of art.

As one of this year’s guest curators – a group that usually consists of four to five people – Hawkins is the only guest curator in the history of the museum from Texas. She suggested the idea for the exhibit in 2001 to help convey how Boydell’s gallery helped make Shakespeare a commodity.

The exhibit chronicles the development of the Shakespeare Gallery—Boydell’s most famous and influential commercial endeavor.

Hawkins said, “Boydell commissioned work from British artists to create an exhibit of scenes from Shakespeare’s plays.

“His original plan was to illustrate, on average, two scenes per play,” she said. “But he responded to the popularity of the individual plays, producing only one image for a not-so-popular play and producing as many as 13 for a very popular play.”

The wars of the time brought economic hardship to Boydell and he had to sell his gallery. But others saw the profitability in the marketing of goods centered on Shakespeare, something that continues to the present.

Hawkins' office features painted tiles depicting Shakespearean scenes and a bobbleheaded Bard that her students ask to hit from time to time.

It is uncertain whether Boydell was aware of the effect he had on how the world viewed Shakespeare, Hawkins said.

But his legacy created the business of selling Shakespeare to the world.

“Boydell’s gallery was a significant factor in the immortalization of Shakespeare,” said Hawkins.