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    		• Calder, Alexander Stirling,
     
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    		• Eyre, Wilson,
     
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    		• McIlvaine, Gilbert,
     
  •  
    		• Wilson Eyre & McIlvaine,
     
  •  
    		• John Meanwell & Sons,
     
  •  
    		• R. C. Ballinger & Company,
     
  •  
    		• Roman Bronze Works,
     
  •  
    		• Literature -- Shakespeare
     
  •  
    		• Literature -- Character
     
  •  
    		• Literature -- Character
     
  •  
    		• Dress -- Historic
     
  •  
    		• Dress -- Theater
     
  •  
    		• Allegory -- Arts & Sciences
     
  •  
    		• Object -- Weapon
     
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    		• Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
     
  •  
    		• Sculpture
     
     
    Shakespeare Memorial, (sculpture).
    Artist: 
    Calder, Alexander Stirling, 1870-1945, sculptor.
    Eyre, Wilson, 1858-1944, architect.
    McIlvaine, Gilbert, architect.
    Wilson Eyre & McIlvaine, architectural firm.
    John Meanwell & Sons, carver.
    R. C. Ballinger & Company, contractor.
    Roman Bronze Works, founder.
    Title: 
    Shakespeare Memorial, (sculpture).
    Other Titles: 
    Shakespeare Memorial: Tragedy and Comedy, (sculpture).
    Shakespeare Memorial: Hamlet and the Fool, (sculpture).
    Hamlet and the Fool, (sculpture).
    Tragedy and Comedy, (sculpture).
    Dates: 
    Commissioned 1917. Cast 1926. Installed 1928. Dedicated April 1929. Relocated 1953.
    Digital Reference: 
    Image Image Image
    Medium: 
    Sculpture: bronze; Base: Coopersburg black granite or black marble.
    Dimensions: 
    Sculpture: approx. H. 72 in.; Base: approx. H. 170 in.
    Inscription: 
    Calder (Base, front:) ALL THE/WORLD'S A STAGE,/AND ALL THE/MEN AND WOMEN/MERELY PLAYERS/SHAKESPEARE MEMORIAL (Base, left rear:) THESE OUR ACTORS/BROUGHT LUSTER TO THE/PHILADELPHIA STAGE/THOMAS WIGNELL/WILLIAM B. WOOD/JOSEPH JEFFERSON/JOHN DREW/LOUISA LANE DREW/CHARLES BURKE/EDWIN FORREST/JAMES E. MURDOCH/E.L. DAVENPORT/JOHN DREW, JR. (Base, middle rear, upper section:) ERECTED 1928/BY THE/SHAKESPEARE SOCIETY/AND THE/FAIRMOUNT PARK/ART ASSOCIATION (Fairmount Park Art Association seal appears in the center of the middle rear section of the base.) (Base, middle rear, lower section:) WILSON EYRE & MCILVAINE/ARCHITECTS/ALEXANDER STIRLING CALDER/SCULPTOR (Base, rear, right side:) BY THEIR STUDY OF/SHAKESPEARE'S WORKS/THESE SCHOLARS ADDED/TO THE DISTINCTION OF/PHILADELPHIA LETTERS/JOSEPH DENNIE(sic)/FIRST AMERICAN EDITOR/OF SHAKESPEARE/HORAE HOWARD FURNESS/EDITOR OF NEW VARIORUM SHAKESPEARE/ASA ISRAEL FISH/FOUNDER OF THE SHAKSPERE(sic)/SOCIETY OF PHILADELPHIA/HORACE HOWARD FURNESS JR./EDITOR OF/NEW VARIORUM SHAKESPEARE signed
    Description: 
    Figure of Hamlet seated on top of a tall base with the figure of Touchstone, the jester, seated by his feet. Hamlet's head is bent down and he holds his sword vertically next to his face with his proper right hand. He is slumped against his sword. Touchstone, caught in a fit of laughter, leans back with his head tossed back and turned to his proper right. He drapes his proper left arm across Hamlet's lap. His legs dangle over the edge of the base and his feet are slightly crossed. Both figures are dressed in the medieval costumes characteristic of Hamlet. The figures represent Tragedy and Comedy.
    Subject: 
    Literature -- Shakespeare -- Hamlet
    Literature -- Character -- Hamlet
    Literature -- Character -- Touchstone
    Dress -- Historic -- Medieval Dress
    Dress -- Theater
    Allegory -- Arts & Sciences -- Drama
    Object -- Weapon -- Sword
    Object Type: 
    Outdoor Sculpture -- Pennsylvania -- Philadelphia
    Sculpture
    Owner: 
    Administered by City of Philadelphia, Fairmount Park Commission, Memorial Hall, West Park, P. O. Box 21601, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19131
    Located Logan Circle, 19th Street & Benjamin Franklin Parkway, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
    Remarks: 
    The quote on the front of the base, "All the world's a stage and all the men and women merely players," is from Shakespeare's play, "As You Like It." The figures are meant to represent Comedy and Drama. The names of ten actors who performed Shakespeare in Philadelphia and three Shakespeare scholars appear on the back of the base. This memorial was proposed in 1892 by John Sartain who contacted the Fairmount Park Art Association about starting a public and private subscription for a Shakespeare Memorial Fund to build the memorial.
    Funding was sufficient by 1917, and although John Massey Rhind was interested, the commission went to Alexander Stirling Calder and architects, Wilson Eyre and Gilbert McIlvaine. The contract was signed on Aug. 1, 1919. Eyre and McIlvaine, along with Paul Cret and Jacques Greber who were designing the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, carefully planned the site for the Shakespeare memorial to integrate with front of the Free Library. The site was approved by the Philadelphia Art Jury in 1926 and the piece was cast between July and Nov. 1926 at a cost of $4,875. The memorial was dedicated on Shakespeare's birthday in April 1929.
    In 1953, the piece was moved about thirty feet from its original location to make way for the Vine Street Expressway (I-676). The SOS! survey, and the publications "Sculpture of a City," and "Public Art in Philadelphia," all list the base medium as black marble. A one-quarter size model in bronze is located at Brookgreen Gardens, South Carolina (IAS 76005651).
    References: 
    Index of American Sculpture, University of Delaware, 1985.
    National Park Service, American Monuments and Outdoor Sculpture Database, PA0055, 1989.
    Monumental News, Nov. 1929, pg. 536.
    Fairmount Park Art Assoc., "Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze & Stone," NY: Walker Publ., 1974, pg. 284.
    Bach, Penny Balkin, "Public Art in Philadelphia," Philadelphia: Temple University Press, 1992, pg. 217.
    Save Outdoor Sculpture, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia survey, 1993.
    Illustration: 
    Image on file.
    Monumental News, Nov. 1929, pg. 536.
    Fairmount Park Art Assoc., "Sculpture of a City: Philadelphia's Treasures in Bronze & Stone," NY: Walker Publ., 1974, pg. 284.
    Related Works: 
    For model see: 76005651.
    Note: 
    The information provided about this artwork was compiled as part of the Smithsonian American Art Museum's Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture database, designed to provide descriptive and location information on artworks by American artists in public and private collections worldwide.
    Repository: 
    Inventories of American Painting and Sculpture, Smithsonian American Art Museum, P.O. Box 37012, MRC 970, Washington, D.C. 20013-7012
    Control Number: 
    IAS 76005652
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    Inventory of American Sculpture76005652Add Copy to MyList

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