Photo: The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust recently unveiled a newly found portrait of the poet William Shakespeare. The portrait is the only known painting of the famous author done during his lifetime. There are 2 other famous images of Shakespeare but both were done after his death — one is an engraving by Martin Droeshout made in 1623 and the other is a bust on display at the Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon made around the same time.
Painted in 1610, this painting is nearly 400 years old and has been reportedly sitting unnoticed in the Cobbe Family household for almost 300 years before a member of the family noticed a resemblance to already-existing portraits of the author. Upon further investigation, the portrait was indeed determined to be of Shakespeare and is even considered to be the source for at least several other well-known Shakespeare images.
This particular painting is significant because it shows the author as he might have appeared to his contemporaries (not bald, apparently). The full portrait will be on display at The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon from April 23 to September 6th in an exhibit called “Shakespeare Found”. But if you can’t make it there at that time, you can see a digital representation of it by clicking the image above.
Shakespeare is cock-eyed!
Not cock-eyed, the right eye is fixed very clearly and proudly on the viewer and the left eye is one of those pictures that looks at you, where ever you’re standing.
Seriously, I think this is outstanding. Humanity can always use another gift! It’s wonderful, not only because it’s Shakespeare, and was painted while he was alive, it’s very alive and full of presence— an excellent portrait. The painter’s faithfulness in the details of the costume make me think that the face is probably fairly authentic as well.
Thank you Cobbe family!
Is the softness of the paint because of the age of the portrait or was that just the style back then?
Is it me or does this guy look a little bit like Christopher Marlowe?
For anyone who’s interested… the Latin means “The friendliness of the kings”.
No, he is definitely cock-eyed.
Creepy and intriguing all at the same time.
Jim — this painting portrays slightly more elongated features (particularly the nose) than portraits of Marlowe. But I suppose it all comes down to who we think Shakespeare was and whether he was one or many…