Boydell Shakespeare - As you like it

Depicts Act II Scene VII - The Seven Ages, The Fifth Age. John Boydell (1719-1804) commissioned paintings of scenes from Shakespeare from leading British artists for his Shakespeare Gallery, a phenomenally successful project credited with changing the course of English painting by creating a market for historical and literary works. Boydell issued the first set of engravings based on the paintings in 1791, then published a nine-volume folio edition in 1802, and two-volume elephant folios of all the engravings based on the paintings in the gallery in 1803. Slight cockling to the sheet.