TO MARCH 20

Starving artists, unite! The next time you’re tempted to sell out, take comfort in the words of 18th-century British artist George Romney: “This cursed portrait painting! How I am shackled with it! I am determined to live frugally, that I may enable myself to cut it short as soon as I am tolerably independent, and then give my mind up to those delightful regions of the imagination.” Romney finally did buck portrait painting for his true passion, Shakespeare’s plays, the results of which can be seen at the Folger Shakespeare Library in “Designs from Fancy: George Romney’s Shakespearean Drawings,” which range from initial sketches to fully-evolved oil paintings. The Infant Shakespeare Attended by Nature and the Passions depicts baby Will surrounded by oppressive personifications of everything from love to jealousy. If Shakespeare wasn’t actually a demigod, he remains a man of mythical proportions. To March 20, with guided tours of the building and exhibition Monday-Friday at 11 a.m. and Saturday at 11 a.m. & 1 p.m. at the Folger Shakespeare Library, 201 E. Capitol St. SE. Free. (202) 544-7077. (Amanda Fazzone)