Shakespeare Gallery (McKechnie Section 1)

Jackson mentions (Dictionary) that during the first half of the nineteenth century silhouettes were cut by machine at the Shakespeare Gallery. She must have been referring to the concern of this name founded by John Boydell (1719-1804), the eminent and prolific publisher of prints (who, incidentally, became first an Alderman of the City of London, and in 1791 was Lord Mayor). Boydell was himself an engraver and etcher, but he published prints made by every technique of the day and commissioned work for his various enterprises from as many as 260 engravers, who made prints after paintings by the finest artists of the day as well as after those by the old masters.

He founded the Shakespeare Gallery in order to exhibit and sell prints made after pictures of Shakespearian characters and scenes painted by famous contemporary artists. Some of the paintings were especially commissioned. The exhibition took three years' preparation, and was finally opened in 1789, after a sum said to be as much as £110,000 had been invested in it. At first, trade in the engravings prospered throughout Europe, but the outbreak of the Napoleonic wars played havoc with the Continental trade of the gallery, and its activities virtually ceased until 1805, when it was reopened. Boydell advertised many times in the London press, and no doubt advertisements of the Shakespeare Gallery survive.

The 260 engravers employed at the gallery included T. Rider (see Section Three) and J. C. Stadler (see Appendix 2). It is said that some of the extant prints produced by the gallery are not of the finest, since some of the plates were overworked. Since a machine was used to produce silhouettes (presumably cut work) at this gallery, it is possible, though perhaps unlikely, that some of the engravers were employed to make prints from these. The profile-cutting business was probably only a side-line of Boydell's concern. I have seen no example, but it is probable that, in view of his high reputation, Boydell would have employed only good artists to produce silhouettes.