Statue of William Shakespeare, Leicester Square

William Shakespeare

The statue in 2007, before cleaning
Artist	Giovanni Fontana
Type	Statue
Material	Marble
Subject	William Shakespeare
Location	London, United Kingdom
Coordinates

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, 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.

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. 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

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

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

External links

• 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)