Statue of William Shakespeare (Roubiliac)

Rather than Tudor costume, he is wearing anachronistic 17th-century "Van Dyke" dress, including a shirt with an elaborate lace collar and cuffs; a long jacket with many buttons, but unbuttoned over the lower body; short trousers with fringed legs; stockings and heeled shoes; all draped in a billowing cloak.

The art historian Margaret Whinney describes Roubiliac's bust as having "Van-Dyckian elegance" and notes that "he has greatly ennobled the head".

A slightly different version of the painting, dated to 1769–1761 with callipers added to the stand for the statue, is held by the Yale Center for British Art.

A 42.2 cm (16.6 in)–high terracotta maquette (a preliminary sketch model) of the whole statue dated to 1757 was bought by the Victoria and Albert Museum in 1867.

There is another bust in the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Memorial Gallery at Stratford-upon-Avon, and a plaster version with bronze patina in the State Library of New South Wales.