SHAKESPEARE 400 Bio | 400th anniversary 1616-2016 Stratford-upon-Avon | Is this the Face of Genius?

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• published: 04 Jan 2016
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SHAKESPEARE's IMAGE Bio - The death of English playwright William Shakespeare is situated early in the seventeenth century in 1616. To put this in perspective, Queen Elizabeth I of England was born in 1533 and the English Glorious Revolution took place in 1688, and Shakespeare was born in 1564. English playwright William Shakespeare has been commemorated in a number of different paintings, engravings, statues and memorials around the world. Authentic representations of his true likeness, however, are very rare and extremely controversial. A possible painting of the poet has sparked international debate amongst historians, art collectors, scientists and academics. The painting is said to be the work of Elizabethan actor-artist John Sanders, who was born in Worcester, England, in 1575. Like the Bard himself, Sanders as a young man made the journey to London to seek his fortune and became involved with Shakespeare's theatre company (Globe Theatre) as a bit actor, and for reasons unknown painted Shakespeare's portrait during his lifetime, in 1603 -- the date on the painting. The Sanders family stayed in the Worcester area until the early 1900s when a large branch of the family immigrated to Canada, bringing the portrait with them. The painting is slightly damaged at the top but otherwise well preserved, with rich bright colors. It shows a Shakespeare with fluffy red hair and blue-green eyes, an appearance that matches descriptions of him in the journals of his contemporaries Christopher Marlowe and Francis Bacon. The painting has been kept in the Sanders family, handed down with care through 12 generations and identified in wills. The public controversy over this portrait began in 1909 when the painting’s owner took it to a London expert on Shakespearean images, who concluded that it could not be the playwright. The major point of contention regarding the painting's authenticity surrounds a rag linen paper note affixed to its back upper right-hand corner. While time has rendered the words on this paper largely illegible, a transcription was made in 1909. While the paper on which the note was written is consistent with the type of paper used in Shakespeare's day, images of the remains of this note taken under ultraviolet light show handwriting that is not consistent with scripts used by Shakespeare and his contemporaries; instead, the note is in a script, which did not appear until the 1700s. Certain scholars believe that this evidence is corroborated by the wording of the note that suggests an eighteenth century origin. While some connoisseurs feel that this is proof of the painting's inauthenticity, others feel that a member of the Sanders family probably added the note at a later date. The weight of evidence on either side of this argument suggests that the controversy surrounding this portrait will not end any time soon. Although many portraits and engravings exist of Shakespeare, at present, the only authentic likenesses of the Bard are considered to be a bust on his tomb in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford, cast after his death, possibly from a death mask, and approved by his wife Anne Hathaway; and a print done by the artist Martin Drusout for the frontispiece of the First Folio of his plays, which seems to have been taken from a sketch that has never been found. The engraving, too, seems to have been approved by his wife; it was published in 1623, following his death. After 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. He was also increasingly commemorated in memorial sculptures around the world. At the same time, the demand for authentic portraits fed a market for fakes and misidentifications. Few individuals are as culturally important in English speaking cultures as Shakespeare, and thus artifacts and ideas that challenge established traditions surrounding this canonical figure are likely to continue to meet with academic and social resistance; yet, Shakespeare's cultural importance lies in his words, not his image, therefore the search for Shakespeare’s authentic image may simply be... much ado about nothing. William SHAKESPEARE 400 anniversary 1616-2016 Stratford-upon-Avon | Is this the Face of Genius? Music credit: Brandenburg Concerto No4-1 BWV1049 - Classical Whimsical by Kevin MacLeod is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/) Source: http://incompetech.com/music/royalty-free/index.html?isrc=USUAN1100303 Artist: http://incompetech.com/ Text from various sources including: Shakespeare's Face by Stephanie Nolen (Knopf2002) Shakespeare 400