BENJAMIN SMITH, British, died 1833
after GEORGE ROMNEY, British, 1734-1802
The Infant Shakespeare Attended
by Nature and the Passions
engraving, 1799
Anonymous Loan, L87.55.884

This engraving, made after Romney’s painting in the Boydell Shakespeare Gallery, depicts Nature behind the infant Shakespeare with Joy and Sorrow on either side of him.  On the right hand of Nature are Love, Hate, and Jealousy.  On her left hand are Anger, Envy, and Fear. 

Romney derived the exaggerated expressions of these symbolic figures from Charles Le Brun’s Treatise on the Passions (1668).  This treatise remained an essential handbook for artists throughout most of the eighteenth century.  It examined how the face should be depicted in different fundamental emotions, such as wonder, love, hate, and sadness, and provided examples.  Romney has applied these principles to his symbolic figures which do not exist outside of their signature expression. 

The print’s composition alludes to religious images like the Adoration of the Magi and the Birth of the Virgin.  This context symbolically elevates Shakespeare to the status of a religious figure.

Cathy Dorin