Stothard had an industrious career as a book illustrator; he was also an active member and the Librarian of the Royal Academy. He worked in oils and produced among his pictures on literary subjects three paintings on scenes from Shakespeare for Boydell's Shakespeare Gallery: The Two Gentlemen of Verona (III.iv), Othello (II.i), and Henry VIII (I.iv). In his later years he drew illustrations for the works of Sir Walter Scott, Lord Byron, and Samuel Rogers (Waterhouse 360).