Shakespeare Monument on east side of the Great Gardens of New Place

A monument of 1789 by Thomas Banks RA for Alderman John Boydell, moved to its current location in 1871. The cornice added in c.1891.

MATERIALS: of a pale ashlar limestone with a rear wall of red brick. The C19 plinth and cornice are of different ashlar limestones.

DESCRIPTION: rectangular on plan, the monument faces west and takes the form of a high-relief sculpture of Shakespeare Attended by Painting and Poetry, under a bracketed pedimental-gabled canopy and mounted on a large plinth. The tableau has a central figure of Shakespeare in contemporary dress seated on a rock outcrop. The Dramatic Muse is to the left, in flowing robes and with a lyre, holding up a wreath. The Genius of Painting is to the right, draped and with brushes and palette. The outcrop stands on a rectangular plinth with a panel inscribed with a quotation from Hamlet Act I, Scene ii: “HE WAS A MAN, TAKE HIM FOR ALL IN ALL/ I SHALL NOT LOOK UPON HIS LIKE AGAIN.”

The large plain plinth below is inscribed: THIS ALTO RELIEVO/ REPRESENTING SHAKESPEARE SEATED BETWEEN THE DRAMATIC MUSE AND THE GENIUS OF PAINTING/ (FORMERLY IN THE FRONT OF THE SHAKESPEARE GALLERY, PALL MALL, LONDON,)/ WAS PRESENTED TO THE TOWN BY/ CHARLES HOLTE BRACEBRIDGE ESQ.,/ ATHERSTONE HALL,/ 1871.

The rear wall is mainly laid in Flemish Garden Wall (Sussex) Bond.