William Shakespeare, Bronze sculpture in Central Park, US
The William Shakespeare bronze sculpture is a portrait statue in Central Park, Manhattan, showing the playwright standing in a thoughtful pose with his right arm resting on a decorated pedestal. It is positioned near the southern end of the Mall, one of the park's main promenades.
A group of prominent New Yorkers formed a committee in 1864 to raise funds for a monument marking the playwright's 300th birth anniversary. The finished work was installed in Central Park in 1872 after several years in the making.
The statue stands along the Literary Walk, a tree-lined path in the park where several writers are honored with sculptures. Visitors often stroll this path on their way through the park, making it one of the more frequented spots in the area.
The sculpture stands in the mid-park area near 66th Street and is easy to reach from several park entrances. Nearby is the Shakespeare Garden, so both spots can be visited on the same walk.
The sculptor John Quincy Adams Ward based his work on three different portraits made during the playwright's lifetime, since no single confirmed likeness exists. This meant the final statue is a composite drawn from multiple sources rather than a copy of one image.
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