The Shakespeare Gallery was an ambitious business venture undertaken by London printmaker and entrepreneur, Josiah Boydell (1752–1817), which commenced in 1789. A series of paintings based on Shakespeare’s plays were commissioned to be executed by leading Royal Academy artists and were then exhibited in a purpose-built gallery at Pall-Mall, London. Subscriptions were taken from the public for the purchase of engravings and a new printed edition of the text.

See, for example, Butler, Marilyn. Romantics, Rebels and Reactionaries: English Literature and Its Background 1776-1830 (OPUS. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1981).