The marble figure, copied from Scheemakers's 18th-century monument to Shakespeare in
Poets' Corner,
Westminster Abbey, 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. The scroll held by Shakespeare is inscribed with a quotation from
Twelfth Night (Act IV, Scene II), , 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. The inscription on the pedestal in Leicester Square reads: The statue is
listed at Grade II. In 2012 it underwent restoration, and the cleaning was completed – by Tom Brown of London Stone Carving Limited – and new water features added in 2014. Shakespeare memorial, Poets' Corner.jpg|The original memorial in Poets' Corner, Westminster Abbey Shakespeare statue (cropped).jpg|Full view of the fountain ==References==