A rare portrait of William Shakespeare has been unveiled to the public. Despite being the most famous playwright in history we’ve never really been entirely sure what old Will looked like, with the image from first edition of the Bard’s plays being generally accepted as the most accurate (the famous First Folio edition, published by his friends after his death); however this portrait, which has been in Cobbe family for centuries, is different as it is thought it was painted while Shakespeare was still alive, quite possibly the only portrait which still exists which was created during the playwright’s lifetime. Mr Cobbe realised the significance of his family heirloom when he saw a portrait of Shakespeare at the National Portrait Gallery and realised it was essentially a copy of the one his family had possessed for generations. The portrait will go on show at the Shakespeare Birth Place Trust in Stratford-upon-Avon from April 23rd, which is also the Bard’s birthday. And if anyone is thinking interesting, but is it relevant here, just consider the enormous influence Shakespeare’s work has had on other artforms, comics included, not just directly (graphic adaptations of his plays) but inspiring new works (Gaiman and Vess’ award-winning Sandman episode). And we’ve got special reason here to be thankful to old Will – no Shakespeare, no Tempest; no Tempest no cult science fiction film called Forbidden Planet and we’d have been looking for a different name… (via the BBC)
March 10th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
There have been a lot of portraits painted of Shakespeare, Artsology.com has an interesting feature on this.