Last time we talked about the classic Droeshout picture of the Bard and about whether it was a true likeness of the man or not. This time I'll show you a few more portraits and leave you to see which one you like best and think is genuine.
Perhaps the CHANDOS portrait is thought to be the closest one to the iconic Droeshout one. This one is so-called because it was once owned by the Dukes of Chandos and was painted between 1610-1613. This means it could be a genuine likeness. It was the first portrait donated to London's National Portrait Gallery when it opened in 1856. We don't know who painted it but some people think that WS's friend and actor, Richard Burbage, was the painter. In 1719 George Vertue, the 18th cent. engraver and antiquary, claimed it was painted by John Taylor, a contemporary child-actor, and that the Droeshout portrait was based on it.
Tarnya Cooper, a curator at the National Portrait Gallery claims that the Chandos portrait is a genuine and true likeness of the Bard.
Another famous portrait of the Bard which looks very similar to the Chandos one is the FLOWER portrait. It is so called because it was presented to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Gallery in 1895 by Mrs. Charles Flower.
Although it is dated 1609, it was shown in a 1966 x-ray to be something else completely. The x-ray showed that the Flower portrait had been painted on top of a 16th cent. portrait of the Madonna and Child and John the Baptist. The fact that it isn't a genuine portrait was shown again when it was investigated in 2005 and proved that it had been forged sometime during the 19th cent. Tarnya Cooper of the National Portrait Gallery thinks it was copied from the Droeshout one and she claims that it was painted sometime between 1818 - 1840.
Another WS portrait is the lesser-known COBBE one. This portrait is so called because it was owned by Charles Cobbe, the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, (1686-1765). It was first shown to the world in 2006 and since then its likeness to the Bard has been a bone of contention between the various Shakespearean scholars.
Prof. Stanley Well, writer and Hon. Pres. of the WS Trust, and Gregory Doran, the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, believe it to be genuine whereas Tarnya Cooper of the NPG claims that it is a portrait of another Warwickshire writer, Sir Thomas Overbury, the 17th cent. poet and essayist who was murdered in the Tower of London in 1613.
Finally, perhaps the portrait that is the least similar to the famous Droeshout one is the SANDERS one. This portrait has a label on the back stating it was painted in 1603 and it's so called as it was owned by a John Sanders, an alleged friend of the Bard. It is possible that WS and Sanders knew each other and that one of the Sanders' family married Anna, one of John Hemmings' (co-compiler of the First Folio and fellow WS actor) cousins.
This portrait was first exhibited in 2001 and it has been very thoroughly investigated since in order to check its authenticity.
Even though it looks nothing like the classical image we think of when we imagine the writer of Macbeth etc., the experts have found it contains 16 facial points that it has in common with other portraits.
Now after all that, which portrait one is the genuine one?
Please comment on: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com
Perhaps the CHANDOS portrait is thought to be the closest one to the iconic Droeshout one. This one is so-called because it was once owned by the Dukes of Chandos and was painted between 1610-1613. This means it could be a genuine likeness. It was the first portrait donated to London's National Portrait Gallery when it opened in 1856. We don't know who painted it but some people think that WS's friend and actor, Richard Burbage, was the painter. In 1719 George Vertue, the 18th cent. engraver and antiquary, claimed it was painted by John Taylor, a contemporary child-actor, and that the Droeshout portrait was based on it.
Tarnya Cooper, a curator at the National Portrait Gallery claims that the Chandos portrait is a genuine and true likeness of the Bard.
Another famous portrait of the Bard which looks very similar to the Chandos one is the FLOWER portrait. It is so called because it was presented to the Royal Shakespeare Theatre Gallery in 1895 by Mrs. Charles Flower.
Although it is dated 1609, it was shown in a 1966 x-ray to be something else completely. The x-ray showed that the Flower portrait had been painted on top of a 16th cent. portrait of the Madonna and Child and John the Baptist. The fact that it isn't a genuine portrait was shown again when it was investigated in 2005 and proved that it had been forged sometime during the 19th cent. Tarnya Cooper of the National Portrait Gallery thinks it was copied from the Droeshout one and she claims that it was painted sometime between 1818 - 1840.
Another WS portrait is the lesser-known COBBE one. This portrait is so called because it was owned by Charles Cobbe, the Anglican Archbishop of Dublin, (1686-1765). It was first shown to the world in 2006 and since then its likeness to the Bard has been a bone of contention between the various Shakespearean scholars.
Prof. Stanley Well, writer and Hon. Pres. of the WS Trust, and Gregory Doran, the artistic director of the Royal Shakespeare Company, believe it to be genuine whereas Tarnya Cooper of the NPG claims that it is a portrait of another Warwickshire writer, Sir Thomas Overbury, the 17th cent. poet and essayist who was murdered in the Tower of London in 1613.
Finally, perhaps the portrait that is the least similar to the famous Droeshout one is the SANDERS one. This portrait has a label on the back stating it was painted in 1603 and it's so called as it was owned by a John Sanders, an alleged friend of the Bard. It is possible that WS and Sanders knew each other and that one of the Sanders' family married Anna, one of John Hemmings' (co-compiler of the First Folio and fellow WS actor) cousins.
This portrait was first exhibited in 2001 and it has been very thoroughly investigated since in order to check its authenticity.
Even though it looks nothing like the classical image we think of when we imagine the writer of Macbeth etc., the experts have found it contains 16 facial points that it has in common with other portraits.
Now after all that, which portrait one is the genuine one?
Please comment on: wsdavidyoung@gmail.com
No comments:
Post a Comment