Shakespeare's lone known portrait
Seventeenth-Century English playwright Ben Jonson once said William Shakespeare, was "Not for an age but for all time". This statement has often been repeated since, as even today, more than 400 years after his death. Shakespeare is considered to be one of the most influential poets and playwrights of all of human history.
Shakespeare published 38 plays, 154 sonnets and several poems during his lifetime. His works have been translated into every single language of the world, making him one of the few writers who are universally loved and acknowledged. But do we really know what he looked like?
The only signed and dated portrait of William Shakespeare created during the bard's lifetime had recently gone on sale for more than 10 million pounds sterling and has been displayed in West London's Grosvenor House Hotel.
This portrait is attributed to the outstanding English portrait artist Robert Peake who was the official court painter to King James I. It is also signed and dated 1608.
Sold in a private treaty without an auction, the owner, of this work of art, wishes to stay anonymous. However, it was disclosed that before 1975, the picture hung in the library of a stately home (that once belonged to the Danby family) in the north of England. Since then it has been in private ownership.
Duncan Phillips, an art expert who examined the work ahead of the sale said "There is more evidence for this portrait of Shakespeare than any other known painting of the playwright." Over the years, the legitimacy of the available paintings of the playwright has been subjected to numerous claims and counterclaims. However, only two posthumous artistic renditions of the legendary author, are generally recognised as accurately portraying him. The first of the two is the engraving that was published in 1623 on the title page of his First Folio, and the second one is the sculpture at his funeral monument erected in Stratford-upon-Avon following his death in 1616 at the age of 52.
Picture Credit : Google