Shakespeare's Tombstone

The monument to is carved out of pale blue limestone ^[3] and mounted on the north wall of the altar. The monument is made in the form of a belt sculpture of Shakespeare with a quill pen in his right hand, his left hand lies on a piece of paper , and both of them rest on a bag of wool, a symbol of the prosperity of this region. Shakespeare is depicted as a sculptor in a buttoned jacket , probably originally scarlet, with brown eyes, brown hair and a beard ^[4] . This style of image was most often used in the manufacture of monuments to theologians , scholars and representatives of other professions associated with mental labor ^[5] . This sculptural image is considered one of two images depicting the appearance of William Shakespeare ^[4] . Two Corinthian columns of black polished marble framing the playwright's sculpture support the cornice on which there are two small figures of cherubs : the left one with a shovel in the hands personifies work, the right one with a skull and an overturned torch - peace. Between the cherubs is the coat of arms of the Shakespeare genus, which depicts a crest and a heraldically decorated shield , carved in the form of a bas-relief on a rectangular stone slab. The upper part of the monument is made in the form of a pyramid, on top of which is placed another skull - with empty eye sockets and without the lower jaw ^[6] . The platbands, frieze and cornice were originally made of white alabaster , which was replaced in 1749 with white marble ^[7] .

Under the figure of Shakespeare there is a tablet with an epitaph engraved in Latin and a poem in English. Epitaph reads:

I VDICIO P YLIUM, GENIO S OCRATEM, ARTE M ARONEM,

T ERRA TEGIT, POPULUS MÆRET, O LYMPUS HABET

The first line of the epitaph is translated as “Pilos in court, Socrates in genius, Maron in art” - an allegorical comparison of Shakespeare with the wise king Pylos Nestor , Greek philosopher Socrates and the Roman poet Virgil (one of whose names was Maron).

The second line: "The earth buries (it), the people groan, Olympus possesses (it)" - it likens Shakespeare to the Greek Olympic gods .

The first image of the monument, published in print, appeared in William Dugdale ’s book Antiquities of Warwickshire , published in 1656, in the form of an engraving, probably made by V.Hollar from a rough drawing made by Dagdale himself. In this picture, the statue of Shakespeare is missing a pen and paper, and his hands are occupied with a pillow, which he presses against his body. The pose of the statue of Shakespeare in this drawing caused numerous ridicule, in particular, art historian quipped that Shakespeare was pressing his pillow to his groin, apparently because of abdominal pain ^[9] .

The edition of Shakespeare's plays of 1725, carried out by Alexander Pope , contains the first fairly accurate picture of the monument, made by engraver George Verty in 1723 ^[10] .

In 1748-1749, the monument was restored . In order to raise the necessary funds, Parson Green, a teacher at the Stratford Grammar School, organized Shakespeare plays in Stratford, the proceeds of which went to restoration ^[11] . In this endeavor, he was supported by the company of famous actor and entrepreneur , who agreed to play Othello at the Stratford City Hall on September 9, 1746, and donate funds from the performance for the restoration of the monument to the playwright ^[12] .

Before restoration, in order to preserve the original appearance of the monument, John Hall, a master from Bristol, made a special drawing ^{[13] [14]} , and Green himself made a plaster cast of the head of the monument ^[15] . During the restoration, the monument was preserved in its original form, painting and gilding were updated, in addition, the platbands , frieze and cornice , originally made of alabaster, were replaced with marble ^[7] .

During the existence of the tombstone of Shakespeare has repeatedly become a victim of vandalism . In particular, the goose feather that the statue holds in his hand was repeatedly stolen, after which it was replaced with a new one. In 1793, the famous Shakespearean persuaded the vicar of the Church of the Holy Trinity to paint the monument white, in accordance with the then neo-classicist style . In 1861, the white painting was removed and the monument was again repainted to its original color scheme ^[16] .

In 1973, unknown attackers pulled a statue of Shakespeare from a niche, damaging it. After this incident, the statue was examined by American Shakespearer , who concluded that the monument was “only slightly damaged” ^[17] . Representatives of the local police came to the conclusion that the attackers were looking for unknown manuscripts of Shakespeare, who were allegedly hidden inside the monument.

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  The drawing of Charles Grignon Sr., published in the 1786 edition of Shakespeare.

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  Illustration by D.Verty to the 1725 edition, based on his own drawing and Chandosovsky portrait .

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  General view of the graves of Shakespeare and his wife on the background of the monument.

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  View of the monument from the side.

• Duncan-Jones, Katherine, HR Woudhuysen. Shakespeare's Poems. - London: Arden Shakespeare, Thomson Learning, 2007. - ISBN 978-1-903436-87-5 .
• Honan, Park. Shakespeare: A Life. - Oxford University Press, 1998. - ISBN 0-19-811792-2 .
• Kemp, Brian. English Church Monuments. - London: BT Batsford Ltd, 1980.
• Schoenbaum, S. William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life. - Oxford University Press, 1987.
• Fox, Levi, ed. The Correspondence of the Reverend Joseph Greene. - HMSO, 1965.
• Spielmann, The First Folio of Shakespeare's Plays. - 1924.
• Price, Diana. Reconsidering Shakespeare's Monument. Review of English Studies 48. - 1997.
• Nicoll Allardyce, Kenneth Muir. Shakespeare Survey 19. - Cambridge University Press, 2006.
• BCA Windle. Shakespeare Country. - 1899.