The Monument

Shakespeare's monument is placed above head height on the north wall of the chancel.The waist-length portrait bust sits in a niche with an entablature above, supported on black marble columns with acanthus leaf capitals.  Above are the arms granted to the Shakespeare family in the late 1590s, supported by a cherub on either side.

The figure portrays a slightly chubby-faced, balding man whose hands rest on a tasselled cushion; one of them holds a pen, the other rests on a piece of paper.  Said to be the work of Gheerart Janssen, whose work shop was in Southwark, its early placing during the lifetime of his widow and daughters indicates that it must be a faithful likeness.