Defining spaces in eighteenth-century Shakespeare illustration

Visual presentation of the plays in frontispieces of eighteenth-century editions negotiate with the texts as read and in performance, the stylistic identities of individual artists, demands of medium and production, and larger aesthetic frames including changing modes of architecture and fashion. Special consideration is given to the construction of space and perspective as ways of reflecting textual idea and movement. The major images considered are this of Francois Boitard (Rowe, 1709), Hubert Gravelot (Theobald, 1740), Francis Hayman (Hanmer, 1744), and a range of artists to the editions of John Bell (1774 and 178588). Notions of perspective, viewpoint, the acting areas of locus and platea and the reader's experience of these in relation to the play are of special significance in the discussion.