Boydell Shakespeare Gallery

In seventeen eighty nine, the engraver and publisher John Boydell opened a gallery on Pall Mall that fundamentally shifted how the British public experienced art. He commissioned the era's leading painters to create large, dramatic oil paintings depicting scenes from the plays of William Shakespeare. By charging visitors a shilling for entry to view these works, he helped pioneer the concept of a public art gallery at a time when elite collections were typically kept behind closed doors. The gallery served as a high-minded commercial venture that effectively transformed Shakespeare from a popular playwright into a national icon, firmly cementing his status as the Bard.