To be or not to be?
Orla O'Brien, Thursday, 12th March 2009
According to the Guardian, a Cobbe portrait unveiled yesterday in London is unlikely to be of William Shakespeare, as has previously been suggested. Professor Stanley Wells, who is heading up the claim that this portrait is of Shakespeare, may have a weak body of evidence to support his claim.
The painting was discovered when its owner attended a ‘Searching for Shakespeare’ competition that was curated by Tarnya Cooper two years ago at the National Portrait Gallery. At the exhibition, the owner saw a portrait of Shakespeare known as the Janssen portrait, which he believed was a copy of his painting.
The Guardian argues that the Janssen portrait – dated c.1610 – is said to have been doctored in the 1770s to look like Shakespeare. So a comparison to a portrait of an unknown random sitter, who was later made to look like Shakespeare is hardly a plausible argument.
The most substantial piece of evidence that Well’s has put forward is that the painting came from the estate of the Earl of Southampton – which the owner’s family inherited – who was Shakespeare’s patron. However, there is no evidence to say that this painting was part of this inheritance.
The National Portrait Gallery holds between 50-100 images that at one time were considered to be of Shakespeare. But perhaps the more interesting question here is why we remain so fascinated with the Bard?
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Comments
john problem
March 16th, 2009 4:22pmThe portrait is of a fellow satisfied with himself, well-fed, no worry frowns, no sweat, sleek and richly turned out. Even allowing for the flattery of portrait artists, there is nothing in this face or address which suggest a man who's been scraping away with the pen through the long hours, then dashing off to act, produce, direct, fiddle with the wobbly scenery, buy beds and generally be busy as the brilliant bard would have to be to get everything done in his short span. This fellow doesn't know the names of flowers or different breeds of dogs or the countless other examples of a wide-ranging learning - not acquired at the click of a google button. No, 'tis not he. 'Tis my Lord A.
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