One of the first museums created for the enjoyment of the middle class was the Shakespeare Gallery, opened in 1789 by John Boydell. Each of its paintings depicted a different scene from a Shakespeare play, and the museum even had a shop on its lower level for purchasing souvenir prints. It closed in 1805, its collection of paintings dispersed through an auction, and its building at 52 Pall Mall was torn down in 1870.
