Possible Portrait Evidence?
Laron
I'm not a Shakespeare buff--but this was an interesting discovery
(that I haven't found record of anywhere. While doing research for a
book, I came across Robin's wonderful book (of course)--and also took
a PhotoShop class. I was ALSO doing research on the use of mirrors &
symbols during Elizabeth I's timeframe.
In a nutshell, I happened to notice two pictures looked awfully
familiar--one of Mary Sidney, and the other of Shakespeare. The
source for the Mary Sidney one is from a Simon De Passe portrait,
circa 1618. The William Shakespeare portrait is from a 1640 engraving
on his Sonnet folio, done by William Marshall. After I post this
message, I'll ask Robin to upload the file to the file area since it
looks like only group managers can do this. :)
When I overlaid the two and changed the opacity from one to the other,
there were some striking similarities. I'm not claming Mary is
Shakespeare (but I'd like to think this helps the cause)--but I'd
almost be willing to be that Mary's portrait was used as a basis for
the William Marshall/Shakespeare one. The big question is why??
The Shakespeare portrait is fairly out of proportion (there's quite a
bit about this on the internet). What intrigues me is the use of
mirrors/hidden images and illusions so popular during this time. I
can't help but think the Shakepeare distortions are in there for a
reason.
Anyway, I've tried to place them side by side so viewers can see the
changes without incurring the cost of PhotoShop. The ONLY changes in
the two were the size (the scale/proportions were kept constant). I
lined up the frame (even that is the same radius).
Note some of the following items: especially the buttons, nose, crook
of the elbow, face outline. One thing that really stood out is the
shape of the feather pen (how it lines up with the shadow on her
dress) and the highlights on Mary's chest & forehead when the frame is
made the same size. It's even interesting to note the exact
dimensions of the oval line up.
Would be interested in knowing what other people think!
-Laron Glover
www.ninthmoon.com / la...@ninthmoon.com
ro...@theshakespearepapers.com
"Comparison-Side-By-Side.jpg."
Laron, it's very intriguing -- thanks for taking the time to do this!
I wonder who William Marshall, the engraver in 1640, was and who he
might have been connected to. Have you tried this with the portrait
from the First Folio, which would be an even closer connection? I'll
upload a copy to the Files page and if you have time, let's see what
you get!
Robin
Laron Glover
your book cover!) & the first Shakespeare folio portrait (the Droeshout
one). I started digging to see what portraits existed of the two--or if
anyone had done a comparison--when I stumbled across this second photo of
Shakespeare and the DePasse portrait of Mary. They literally stopped me
cold when I saw them side-by-side.
I found a few references to William Marshall. I should do more digging to
see who he was. I get the impression he was a much better engraver than
Droeshout--so why would he have used the awful Droeshout First Folio work to
make his copy?
One reference was a "Shakespeare" site--the typical (but really
interesting):
<<http://www.william-shakespeare.info/william-shakespeare-marshall%20engravi
ng.htm>>
The other was a more scholarly work located via Google Book Search--just a
bit from the book "Shakespeare in Pictorial Art" a book by Malcolm Salaman.
(Bottom of page 4/page 5)--discusses some of the engravers such as Martin
Droeshout. Here's the reference:
<<http://books.google.com/books?id=GgSb6AGM_4EC&pg=PA6&lpg=PA6&dq=william+ma
rshall+engraving+shakespeare&source=web&ots=HLk9ES63DA&sig=7NOIY29443Q_-77_q
tw39EYasVo#PPA4,M1>>
Anyway--sorry my post was so rambling--I read it later UGH! I have a four
year old, was trying to get work done, be a mommy, help my niece with her
upcoming wedding and write a book at the same time. LOL!
Laron Glover
Ninth Moon, LLC
8124 150th Place SE | Snohomish, WA 98296
360.668.6292 office | 360.668.6838 fax
email: laron...@verizon.net | website: www.ninthmoon.com
Laron Glover
I used the First Folio photo--it wasn't as good of a match on this Mary
Sidney portrait, but it's pretty darn close to another portrait of hers,
from Nicholas Hilliard, c 1590. Here's the comparison. Feel free to upload
file if you wish.
On a footnote--I wrote my PhotoShop instructor and asked if there was a
digital way to compare pictures vs. "eyeballing" them. Might be a bit more
scientific. I'll let the group know what I find out.
ro...@theshakespearepapers.com
wasn't engraved until something like 1840, so the artist really had no
idea what she looked like. And the other is supposedly of Anne
Clifford, a contemporary of Mary's, and I'm not sure when it was
created. I posted them just so we could see how incredibly similar
they are. I have a three-volume set of engravings from the 16th and
17th centuries, and as I mentioned to you, Laron, they often look like
those wooden paintings at carnivals where there's a hole for your head
-- you stick in your head and get your photo taken. In the 16th
century is seemed to be like, "Want your picture on a rearing horse?
We got just the one for you!" It's pretty funny.
I do find it quite fun and clever to see these images of William
Shakespeare apparently modeled on Mary Sidney, but I'm afraid we can't
build a case for authorship based on it! Dang it. :-)
You did give me great examples with which to begin my next
presentation -- a morphing of shakespeare's face to Mary's.
onward!
Robin
Laron
Hi, Robin--
Fun stuff! I did the overlay of Anne & compared side-by-side with the
Mary one--what do you think? They looked really close when doing the
"eyeball" test but when overlaid, the mask doesn't seem to match up as
well--it didn't "click" into place as it did with Mary's, although the
moon under the eyeball is weird. I did the same thing--kept
perspective ratio & just sized to line up eyeballs. For Anne's I had
to rotate on axis. I would really like to find someone experienced
with photo analysis/forensics. Just taking the face, it'd be
interesting to have some sort of mathematical figure. Sometimes I
think if you stare at these things long enough, you can see what you
want.
I agree though--the photos don't *prove* anything. Even if they used
Mary's engraving as a basis for the Shakespeare portfolio, it doesn't
mean anything other than that--they didn't have a picture of him, so
they probably used somebody's likeness and modified it to look like
whoever. The big question is whose?? :)
Anyway, you've started a fun search! Feel free to post the Anne/Mary/
William comparison if you like.
-Laron