Title
Bertram Mackennal modelling in clay a figure for his Shakespeare Memorial
circa 1925
Artist
-
Details
- Date
- circa 1925
- Media category
- Photograph
- Materials used
- copy print of a gelatin silver photograph
- Dimensions
- 15.2 x 10.0 cm
- Signature & date
Not signed. Not dated.
- Credit
- National Art Archive. Gift of the artist's granddaughter, Pauline Kraay, 2012
- Location
- Not on display
- Accession number
- ARC354.4.1
- Copyright
- Artist information
-
Unknown
Works in the collection
- Share
-
-
About
Bertram Mackennal created the Shakespeare Memorial in Sydney at the request of journalist and former president of the Shakespeare Society of New South Wales, Henry Gullett.
Gullett began negotations with Mackennal in 1912, however, the commission was halted due to Gullett's sudden death in 1914. Gullett's family pressed on with the memorial, which was unveiled in 1926. Five figures from Shakespeare's plays stand beneath the central figure of the playwright himself: Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, Portia and Falstaff. The Shakespeare Memorial sits opposite the Mitchell Library of the State Library of New South Wales in Shakespeare Place.
On the back of this photograph the artist's granddaughter, Pauline Kraay has typed "The Shakespeare Memorial Group was erected in Sydney. At the time there was much criticism from the public, Shakespeare lovers of different opinions as to which characters were more important and should be included in the group".
