![]() Others have argued that such an identification is tenuous as best. In May 2015, the magazine Country Life published a cover story with the claim by the botanist Mark Griffiths that a portrait of Shakespeare was included as part of the title page of Herball, or Generall Historie of Plantes, a 1597 book by John Gerard. Reputed portrait in John Gerard's Herball. ![]() It belongs to the John Rylands University Library Manchester. The Grafton Portrait by an unknown artist of a man whose age, like Shakespeare's, was 24 in 1588.Tarnya Cooper, the 17th-century art specialist at the National Portrait Gallery, argues that both paintings depict Thomas Overbury. The portrait is thought to have belonged initially to Shakespeare's patron, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, and to have been copied by another artist who created the painting known as the Janssen portrait, which had already been claimed to depict Shakespeare. The Cobbe portrait: In 2009, Stanley Wells and the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust announced that they believe this painting, which has been in the possession of the Cobbe family since the early 18th century, is a portrait of Shakespeare drawn from life.Most scholars consider this to be pure speculation, but the claim was revived in 2004 by Jeffrey Netto, who argued that the chess game symbolises "the well known professional rivalry between these figures in terms of a battle of wits". This was identified in 1916 as an image of Ben Jonson and Shakespeare playing chess. The Chess Players attributed to Karel van Mander.The name arose as it was once in the possession of the Duke of Chandos. The Cobbe portrait had not been discovered at that time, but Cooper has since confirmed her opinion. ![]() In 2006, the National Portrait Gallery published a report authored by Tarnya Cooper saying it is the only painting with any real claim to have been done from life. This portrait is attributed to John Taylor, and dated to about 1610. ![]() Probably made during Shakespeare's lifetime There are several portraits dated to the 17th century that have been claimed to represent Shakespeare, although in each the sitter is either unidentified or the identification with Shakespeare is debatable. It is believed that the bust was made by the Flemish artist Gerard Johnson.īust of Shakespeare at Shakespeare's funerary monument Possible portraits It is believed to have been commissioned by the poet's son-in-law, John Hall, and must have been seen by Shakespeare's widow Anne. This half-length statue on his memorial must have been erected within six years after Shakespeare's death in 1616. The bust in Shakespeare's funerary monument, in the choir of Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon.An introductory poem in the First Folio, by Ben Jonson, implies that it is a very good likeness. An engraving by Martin Droeshout as title-page to the collected works of Shakespeare (the First Folio), printed in 1622 and published in 1623. There are two representations of Shakespeare that are unambiguously identified as him, although both may be posthumous. Portraits clearly identified as Shakespeare At the same time, the clamour for authentic portraits fed a market for fakes and misidentifications. He was also increasingly commemorated in Shakespeare memorial sculptures, initially in Britain, and later elsewhere around the world. 1601), in which a character says "O sweet Mr Shakespeare! I'll have his picture in my study at the court." Īfter his death, as Shakespeare's reputation grew, artists created portraits and narrative paintings depicting him, most of which were based on earlier images, but some of which were purely imaginative. However, it is thought that portraits of him did circulate during his lifetime because of a reference to one in the anonymous play Return from Parnassus ( c. There is no concrete evidence that Shakespeare ever commissioned a portrait. Experts and critics have argued that several other paintings from the period may represent him, and more than 60 portraits purporting to be of Shakespeare were offered for sale to the National Portrait Gallery within four decades of its foundation in 1856, but in none of them has Shakespeare's identity been proven. The two portraits of him that are the most famous (both of which may be posthumous) are the engraving that appears on the title-page of the First Folio, published in 1623, and the other is the sculpture that adorns his memorial in Stratford upon Avon, which dates from before 1623. No contemporary physical description of William Shakespeare is known to exist. The Cobbe portrait (1610), The Chandos portrait (early 1600s) and the Droeshout portrait (1622): three of the most prominent of the reputed portraits of William Shakespeare. Visual representations of William Shakespeare
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