Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era

Imagining Shakespeare: Mythmaking and Storytelling in the Regency Era reunites fourteen original paintings from the legendary Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, displayed together for the first time since the collection was auctioned off in 1805. Created by some of the most celebrated British artists of the late eighteenth century, these large-scale canvases were part of a bold commercial and cultural venture that helped transform Shakespeare into a national icon and a symbol of British empire and economic might. The exhibition invites visitors to examine not only the stories Shakespeare wrote, but also the myths and narratives that later generations built around him—from the idea of the Bard as a natural-born genius to the use of his work in shaping national identity.

Venue: Stuart and Mimi Rose Rare Book and Manuscript Exhibition Hall at the Folger Shakespeare Library. Dates: Saturday, October 4, 2025 through Sunday, August 2, 2026. Tickets: Admission is free; a timed-entry pass is recommended to ensure entry. Exhibition highlights: All fourteen works come from the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, founded by John Boydell and his nephew Josiah, which opened in London in 1789 and grew to 173 paintings by 35 artists before its dispersal. Only about a third of those paintings are known to survive today. Among the paintings on view are George Romney’s *The infant Shakespeare attended by Nature and the Passions* and James Northcote’s *Romeo and Juliet, act V, scene III: Monument belonging to the Capulets: Romeo and Paris dead, Juliet and Friar Laurence*. Note: The Folger also offers a related Humanities Lab course and blog and podcast series exploring the gallery’s history, but those are separate programs not included in the exhibition itself.