Statue of William Shakespeare, Leicester Square

The marble figure, copied from Scheemakers' 18th-century monument to Shakespeare in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey,[1] stands on a pedestal flanked by dolphins at the centre of a fountain. It is the result of improvements to the gardens made by the financier Albert Grant, who bought the Square in 1874 and had it refurbished to a design by James Knowles.[2]

The scroll held by Shakespeare is inscribed with a quotation from Twelfth Night (Act IV, Scene II), THERE IS NO DARKNESS BUT IGNORANCE, where the original in Poets' Corner has a misquoted passage from The Tempest. The Leicester Square statue also differs from its model in omitting portrait reliefs of Henry V, Richard III and Elizabeth I from the plinth on which Shakespeare rests.[1] The inscription on the pedestal in Leicester Square reads:

THIS ENCLOSURE/ WAS PURCHASED, LAID OUT/ AND DECORATED AS A GARDEN/ BY ALBERT GRANT ESQ[UI]RE M.P./ AND/ CONVEYED BY HIM ON THE 2ND JULY 1874/ TO THE/ METROPOLITAN BOARD OF WORKS/ TO BE PRESERVED FOR EVER/ FOR THE FREE USE AND ENJOYMENT/ OF THE PUBLIC[3]

The statue is listed at Grade II.[4] In 2012 it underwent restoration,[5] and the cleaning was completed, by Tom Brown of London Stone Carving Limited, and new water features added in 2014.[6]

• 
  The original memorial in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey
• 
  The Leicester Square statue in 2007, before cleaning

• Media related to Statue of William Shakespeare at Leicester Square at Wikimedia Commons
• Shakespeare statue returned to Leicester Square by Jaymi McCann (17 October 2012), London Evening Standard
• Bard restored to Leicester Square by Matthew Amer, Official London Theatre (2013)