Statue of William Shakespeare, Leicester Square

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

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	Boydell Shakespeare Gallery Garrick's Temple to Shakespeare

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	7 July Memorial Albert Memorial Queen Alexandra Memorial Anti-Air War Memorial Bali Bombings Memorial Bazalgette Memorial Bolan's Rock Shrine Breathing Bromhead Memorial Burdett-Coutts Memorial Sundial Edith Cavell Memorial Cheylesmore Memorial Agatha Christie Memorial Donne Memorial Queen Eleanor Memorial Cross (Charing Cross) Faraday Memorial George VI and Queen Elizabeth Memorial Golden Boy of Pye Corner Grace Gates Memorial to the Great Exhibition Memorial to Heroic Self Sacrifice Hogg Memorial Holocaust Memorial Kennedy Memorial Kindertransport – The Arrival Lister Memorial The Monument National Firefighters Memorial National Police Memorial Nelson's Column Pankhurst Memorial Queen Elizabeth Gate Suffragette Memorial Victoria Memorial Twelve Responses to Tragedy ("Yalta Memorial") Wellington Arch Wellington Monument Whittington Stone A Conversation with Oscar Wilde Duke of York Column
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	Buxton Memorial Diana, Princess of Wales Memorial Diana Fountain, Bushy Park Diana Fountain, Green Park Fawcett Memorial The Horses of Helios Guilford Place Matilda Fountain Revolving Torsion Roehampton St Lawrence Jewry and St Mary Magdalene Shaftesbury Memorial ("Eros") Lady Henry Somerset Memorial Victoria Park
Murals	Brixton Cable Street Poplar Rates Rebellion Sutton twin towns Sutton Heritage Mosaic Topolski Century
Other works	ArcelorMittal Orbit The Arch 1979–1980 The Barbican Muse Big 4 Boadicea and Her Daughters Bull The Burghers of Calais Christ Child Crystal Palace Dinosaurs The Diver Dolphin lamp standards Dragon boundary marks Elfin Oak Fourth plinth, Trafalgar Square Fulcrum The Gold Smelters Homage to Leonardo Icarus Knife Edge Two Piece 1962–65 Labyrinth London Noses London Pride The Messenger Millennium Dial The Naked Ladies Nike Old Father Time Paternoster Paternoster Vents Physical Energy Platforms Piece Quantum Cloud The Queen's Beasts Rush of Green St Paul's Cross Single Form (Memorial) A Slice of Reality Slipstream South Bank Lion Still Water Traffic Light Tree Winged Figure World World Cup Sculpture The Young Lovers Three Standing Figures 1947 Talking Statues Works formerly in London
Blue plaques	Camden Kensington and Chelsea City of Westminster
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	Art on the Underground London Mural Preservation Society Metropolitan Drinking Fountain and Cattle Trough Association
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	Shakespeare's sonnets comparison to Petrarch Venus and Adonis The Rape of Lucrece The Phoenix and the Turtle The Passionate Pilgrim* A Lover's Complaint
Life and works	Birthplace and childhood home Apocrypha Bibliography Complete Works of William Shakespeare Translations Early editions Editors English Renaissance theatre Family Globe Theatre Handwriting Lord Chamberlain's Men/King's Men The Theatre Curtain Theatre New Place Portraits Religious views Sexuality Spelling of his name Stratford-upon-Avon Style
Legacy	Attribution studies Authorship question Influence Memorials Screen adaptations Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Folger Shakespeare Library Shakespeare Quarterly Shakespeare's Globe (replica) Bardolatry Titles of works taken from Shakespeare
* Shakespeare and other authors Lost