Editing Regency era (section)

== The arts ==

=== Architecture ===

==== Regent's Park and London Zoo ====

In the 1810s, the Prince Regent proposed the conversion of Crown land in [[Marylebone]] and [[St Pancras, London|St Pancras]] into a pleasure garden. The design work was initially assigned to the architect [[John Nash (architect)|John Nash]] but it was the father and son partnership of [[James Burton (property developer)|James]] and [[Decimus Burton]] who had the majority of input to the project.<ref>{{cite book |last=Williams |first=Guy |title=Augustus Pugin Versus Decimus Burton: A Victorian Architectural Duel |year=1990 |publisher=Cassell Publishers Ltd |location=London |isbn=978-0-3043-1561-1 |pages=11–12}}</ref> Landscaping continued through the 1820s and [[Regent's Park]] was finally opened to the public in 1841.<ref>[https://library.eb.co.uk/levels/adult/article/Regents-Park/63047 ''Encyclopaedia Britannica'']. Article on Regent's Park. Retrieved 30 June 2022.</ref>

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) was founded in 1826 by [[Sir Stamford Raffles]] and [[Sir Humphry Davy]]. They obtained land alongside the route of the [[Regent's Canal]] through the northern perimeter of Regent's Park, between the [[City of Westminster]] and the [[London Borough of Camden]]. Following the death of Raffles soon afterwards, the [[Henry Petty-Fitzmaurice, 3rd Marquess of Lansdowne|3rd Marquess of Lansdowne]] assumed responsibility for the project and supervised construction of the first animal houses.<ref name="ZSL-history">{{cite web |url=http://www.zsl.org/info/about-us/zsls-history,129,AR.html |title=ZSL's History |publisher=[[Zoological Society of London]] |access-date=1 July 2022 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080228235326/http://www.zsl.org/info/about-us/zsls-history%2C129%2CAR.html |archive-date=28 February 2008}}</ref> At first, the zoo was used for scientific purposes only with admittance restricted to Fellows of the ZSL which, in 1829, was granted a [[Royal charter]] by George IV. The zoo was not opened to the public until 1847, after it became necessary to raise funds.<ref name="ZSL-history"/>

=== Literature ===

[[Jane Austen]], [[Lord Byron]], [[Walter Scott]] and others were the most prominent writers of the Regency era. However, the time period also produced some of the 19th century's most prolific writers such as [[Charles Dickens]], [[Charlotte Brontë]], and [[Benjamin Disraeli]].<ref>{{Cite web |date=2021-08-30 |title=20 novels that shaped the Victorian era |url=https://www.penguin.co.uk/articles/2021/08/best-victorian-books-era-novels-classics/ |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=www.penguin.co.uk |language=en}}</ref> Especially popular forms of literature at this time were novels and poetry, such as Lord Byron's ''The Regent's Bomb.''<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Behrendt |first=Stephen C. |date=2012 |title=Was There a Regency Literature? 1816 as a Test Case |url=https://www.jstor.org/stable/24396032 |journal=Keats-Shelley Journal |volume=61 |pages=25–34 |jstor=24396032 |issn=0453-4387}}</ref>

=== Music ===

Wealthy households staged their own music events by relying on family members who could sing or play an instrument. For the vast majority of people, street performers provided their sole access to music of any kind. However, the upper class enjoyed music such as Ludwig van Beethoven's Piano Sonata No. 30, Felix Mendelssohn's Violin Sonata in F major, MWV Q 7, and much more.<ref>{{Cite book |last=Kerman |first=Joseph |title=Beethoven |date=1983 |publisher=Norton & Company |isbn=978-0-393-30091-8 |series=The new Grove |location=New York London}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book |last=Todd |first=Ralph Larry |title=Mendelssohn: a life in music |date=2003 |publisher=Oxford University press |isbn=978-0-19-511043-2 |location=Oxford}}</ref> Especially popular composers of the time included Beethoven, Rossini, Liszt, and Mendelssohn.<ref name="wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk">{{Cite web |title=A Walk Through The Regency Era  |url=https://wentworthwoodhouse.org.uk/discovery/a-walk-through-the-regency-era/ |access-date=2024-03-05 |website=Wentworth Woodhouse |language=en-US}}</ref>

=== Painting ===

The most prominent landscape painters were [[John Constable]] and [[J. M. W. Turner]]. Notable [[portrait painter]]s include [[Thomas Lawrence]] and [[Martin Archer Shee]], both Presidents of the [[Royal Academy]]. The [[National Gallery]] was established in London in 1824.

=== Theatre ===

[[File:Microcosm of London Plate 032 - Drury lane interior 1808.jpg|thumb|upright=1.2|Interior of [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane]], 1808]]
The plays of [[William Shakespeare]] were very popular throughout the period. The performers wore modern dress, however, rather than 16th-century costumes.<ref>Tapley, Jane. ''Jane Austen’s Regency World Magazine'', vol. 17, p. 23.</ref>

London had three [[patent theatre]]s at [[Covent Garden Theatre|Covent Garden]], [[Theatre Royal, Drury Lane|Drury Lane]] and the [[Haymarket Theatre|Haymarket]]. Other prominent theatres were the [[Theatre Royal, Bath]] and the [[Crow Street Theatre]] in [[Dublin]]. The playwright and politician [[Richard Brinsley Sheridan]] controlled the Drury Lane Theatre until it burned down in 1809.