Searching for Shakespeare - portraits and papers (London, next year)
lyra
(quote)
Searching for Shakespeare
2 March - 29 May 2006
Wolfson Gallery
Admission £8 / £5
William Shakespeare
attributed to John Taylor, c.1610
In 1856 the first portrait presented to the newly-founded National
Portrait Gallery was a compelling painting considered to be of William
Shakespeare, known as the "Chandos" portrait.
At this date Shakespeare's appearance had been a matter of national
interest for around two centuries. Yet the identity of this picture is
still considered unproven and today we have no certain lifetime
portrait of England's most famous poet and playwright.
On the occasion of the National Portrait Gallery's 150th anniversary in
2006, an exhibition on the biography and portraiture will be staged at
the Gallery. Alongside the Chandos portrait, five other "contender"
portraits purporting to represent Shakespeare will be displayed
together for the first time.
The exhibition will present the results of new technical analysis and
research on several of these pictures casting new light on the search
for Shakespeare's authentic appearance.
Shakespeare's life can only be partially reconstructed, but this
exhibition will also attempt to search for the Shakespeare his
contemporaries knew by looking closely at his own circle.
The exhibition will bring together original documents relating to
Shakespeare's life and portraits of his contemporaries including
actors, patrons and other playwrights, in order to place the poet not
in our historical imagination, but within his own time.
Links
- Portraits of Shakespeare in the NPG collections
National Portrait Gallery, St Martin's Place, London WC2H OHE. Tel: 020
7306 0055
bookburn
"lyra" <mountai...@RockAthens.com> wrote in message
news:1132003303.9...@z14g2000cwz.googlegroups.com...
this seems like a nice visit...
(quote)
Searching for Shakespeare
2 March - 29 May 2006
Wolfson Gallery
Admission £8 / £5
William Shakespeare
attributed to John Taylor, c.1610
In 1856 the first portrait presented to the newly-founded National
Portrait Gallery was a compelling painting considered to be of William
Shakespeare, known as the "Chandos" portrait.
At this date Shakespeare's appearance had been a matter of national
interest for around two centuries. Yet the identity of this picture is
still considered unproven and today we have no certain lifetime
portrait of England's most famous poet and playwright.
-----------------------------------------
(snip)
Not exactly. We do have the Droeshout portrait of Shakespeare
published in the First Folio by lifetime friends, considered "well
authenticated" by biographers, and the Janssen bust at Holy Trinity
Church, originally painted in lifelike colors, which must have been
approved by Shakespeare's immediate family, who presumably paid for
it.
In the FF, Jonson says something about Droeshout's coper plate
engraving not representing the real Shakespeare for the reader, but
he's probably elevating content above superficial appearance, rather
than diminishing the representation, IMO. The curious bilateral
symmetry of the portrait, showing two left arms and eyes, etc., might
be an engraver's thrifty way of composing half, then making a mirror
image of the rest? The result is abstract enough to invite the reader
to be involved in interpreting the artifice, as if the poet and his
works be done so, too.
So, unless something more reliable turns up, this leaves us with the
Droeshout portrait, showing a middle-aged man, and the Janssen bust,
showing an older man. If they are reasonably representative of
Shakespeare, one might imagine something composite from that. Maybe
someone with a computer program could produce such a composite, using
the lifelike colors from the Janssen bust? bookburn