Booking and details
Plan your visitDates Sat, Oct 4, 2025 – Sun, Aug 2, 2026
Venue Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall
Tickets Free; timed-entry pass recommended
Displayed together for the first time since 1805, 14 paintings from the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery in London are now on view at the Folger. The paintings, created by leading artists of 18th-century England, depict scenes from Shakespeare’s plays.
The Boydell Gallery contributed to the story of Shakespeare as a genius from birth—the Bard, a symbol of British imperialism and economic power. This exhibition offers visitors the chance to consider both the stories Shakespeare created and the stories that were created about him.
About the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery
Founded by John Boydell (1720–1804) and his nephew Josiah (1752–1817), the fashionable London picture gallery opened in 1789 and lasted until the collection was dispersed at auction in 1805. By then it had grown to hold 173 paintings (almost half of them life-size) by 35 different artists. Only a third of these works are known to still exist.
Paintings on view
Explore the gallery’s history
Learn more on the Folger’s Shakespeare Unlimited podcast and Shakespeare & Beyond blog.
The Boydell Shakespeare Gallery
In 1789, John Boydell opened a London gallery of paintings of Shakespeare scenes. It became a sensation, transforming Shakespeare into a national icon and elevating public art. Rosie Dias and Michael Dobson discuss its rise and fall.
Imagining Shakespeare on Canvas
Take a time machine back to 18th-century London and John Boydell’s Shakespeare Gallery, visited by everyone who was anyone, from Jane Austen to the Prince of Wales. But why make a gallery devoted to Shakespeare? And who was Boydell?
Member preview
Folger Members were invited to an exhibition preview before Imagining Shakespeare opened to the public. Become a member