The design is a tripod-stand, upon which a cup or vase is placed, surmounted by a wreath of laurels, standing erect. The first panel contains a bust of Shakspeare on a therme.[1] A figure, representing Kemble, is seated, studying with a book in his hands: a winged figure, the Genius of Shakspeare, has just descended to direct his attention to the following characters of the great dramatic poet, which are inscribed on the therme in the following order; viz. King John, Macbeth, Hamlet, Richard, Hotspur, Wolsey, Posthumus, Romeo, Brutus, and Coriolanus. The second side represents Mr. Kemble, advanced in years, and just descended from the stage, upon which he has left his senatorial chair, and dropped his dagger, while a figure of Tragedy, who has followed him, is crowning him with laurels. Upon the third was engraven the dedicatory inscription, composed by Mr.
- ↑ Mr. Flaxman took this head of Shakspeare from Droeshout's print, which, if we may rely upon the testimony of Ben Jonson, who was no flatterer, was considered an excellent likeness of his rival. My own humble opinion is, that most, if not all the pictures which have been engraved with the greatest avidity, are most impudent impositions; produced, as many of them can be proved, by well-known impostors and needy men, whose necessitous families have urged them, like the Apothecary in Romeo and Juliet» to sell the poison.
