Speculations....
Roundtable
left eye (a mole in the corner of my eye, looked like make-up-remains,
yuck) I was amused to find this article on the net, speculating about
Willie-Boy:
Quote:
"THE BARD OR NOT THE BARD
A German academic thinks she has the lowdown on Shakespeare's
looks--and his premature demise
ROD USHER
Not a man to pass up a paradox, William Shakespeare would have liked
the one his own life produced: the world's best-known writing in the
English language, by one of the world's least-known authors. Who was
the "Dark Lady" he loved? What caused his death in 1616 at the age of
52? What did the man really look like? The Bard might well have been
smiling to himself when he wrote in Macbeth, "Your face, my Thane, is
as a book where men may read strange matters."
Reading matters into the face of Shakespeare has entered a new phase
thanks to a professor of English literature at Germany's Mainz
University, Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel. She claims that her
research confirms what Shakespeare looked like and, coincidentally,
indicates his death may be attributed to a cancerous growth in or
above his left eye.
Apart from teaching Shakespeare's works, Hammerschmidt-Hummel 13 years
ago began collecting illustrations to all his dramas. She compiled
3,330 pictorial representations dating from 1594 to the present. It
was this project that started her on a search to learn which of the
five best-known images of the author tells the truth. Was it the
engraving, the limestone bust, one of two oil paintings or the death
mask?
The engraving, by Dutchman Martin Droeshout, appeared on the famous
First Folio of Shakespeare's collected dramatic works in 1623. Author
Ben Jonson, who wrote verse to accompany the publication, said the
engraving was of Shakespeare, but Droeshout was only 15 when
Shakespeare died. What did he base his engraving on? The painted
limestone bust is by English sculptor Gheerart Janssen. It is in Holy
Trinity Church at Stratford-upon-Avon, where Shakespeare was buried.
The bust is mentioned in this first edition, but it has been damaged
and altered over the centuries.
The paintings are the so-called Chandos and Flower portraits. The
first, given by Lord Chandos to London's National Portrait Gallery in
the 19th century, is of a man about 30 to 35 with dark brown eyes,
brown hair and an earring in his left ear. The second, named for the
woman who donated it to the picture gallery of the Royal Shakespeare
Theatre, shows a subject about a decade older and with a resemblance
to the Droeshout engraving. The "death mask," widely dismissed as a
fake, is owned by the German city of Darmstadt. It must have been
bought in London by a German nobleman in 1775, and has the date of
Shakespeare's death on the back.
Hammerschmidt-Hummel decided to use forensic techniques to see what
the five images had in common. With the help of the Federal Police
Agency in Wiesbaden, she compared photos of the engraving and of the
two paintings. The police found 17 facial features common to all
three, which proves the identity of the persons depicted.
What really excited her was the discovery of an odd swelling on the
left eyelid in both paintings and the engraving, which can also be
traced on the death mask. Wiesbaden ophthalmologist Walter Lerche
suggested a problem with the tear glands, which could have been a sign
of a potentially fatal cancer. In addition a small caruncle tumor was
found in the inner corner of the left eye. Finally, a lump is above
the left eyebrow in the restored Flower portrait and the death mask. A
dermatologist consulted by Hammerschmidt-Hummel suspected a chronic
inflammation; a pathologist diagnosed a likely bone tumor.
From structures, bumps and lumps, the German academic draws three bold
conclusions: both portraits are genuine and were painted from life;
the Droeshout engraving is based on the Flower portrait; the suspect
death mask is the genuine death mask of William Shakespeare. She says
this means the formerly most trusted images of Shakespeare--the
engraving and the bust--are relegated to "the second row."
Hammerschmidt-Hummel is having trouble convincing her peers. Says
Shakespeare authority Stanley Wells: "Any identification has to go on
likenesses, and the trouble is we have no naturalistic portraits of
Shakespeare of any authenticity." Dieter Mehl, president of the German
Shakespeare Society, asks, "Does it really matter?"
If Hammerschmidt-Hummel is proved correct, the city of Darmstadt will
consider its 1960 purchase for $35,000 an investment worthy of a
certain Venetian merchant.
--Reported by Rhea Schoenthal/Bonn"
Unquote
By the way, cancerous growths in the caruncle are unlikely to spread,
and
are easily, albeit not painlessly, removed.
Roundtable
bookburn
"Roundtable" <lancelo...@hotmail.com> wrote in message
news:fd6ab3a4.03100...@posting.google.com...
Oh, oh, might be some kind of sympathetic response to Marlowe's
stabbing?
> Apart from teaching Shakespeare's works, Hammerschmidt-Hummel
13 years
> ago began collecting illustrations to all his dramas. She
compiled
> 3,330 pictorial representations dating from 1594 to the
present. It
> was this project that started her on a search to learn which of
the
> five best-known images of the author tells the truth. Was it
the
> engraving, the limestone bust, one of two oil paintings or the
death
> mask?
I think the British Museum prefers the statue in Westminster
Abbey for likeness.
Roundtable, are you sure you didn't read this before you got your
cyst?
> From structures, bumps and lumps, the German academic draws
three bold
> conclusions: both portraits are genuine and were painted from
life;
> the Droeshout engraving is based on the Flower portrait; the
suspect
> death mask is the genuine death mask of William Shakespeare.
She says
> this means the formerly most trusted images of Shakespeare--the
> engraving and the bust--are relegated to "the second row."
Well, the statue in Westminster Abbey does resemble the death
mask some.
> Hammerschmidt-Hummel is having trouble convincing her peers.
Says
> Shakespeare authority Stanley Wells: "Any identification has to
go on
> likenesses, and the trouble is we have no naturalistic
portraits of
> Shakespeare of any authenticity." Dieter Mehl, president of the
German
> Shakespeare Society, asks, "Does it really matter?"
>
> If Hammerschmidt-Hummel is proved correct, the city of
Darmstadt will
> consider its 1960 purchase for $35,000 an investment worthy of
a
> certain Venetian merchant.
>
> --Reported by Rhea Schoenthal/Bonn"
>
> Unquote
>
> By the way, cancerous growths in the caruncle are unlikely to
spread,
> and
> are easily, albeit not painlessly, removed.
bookburn, hoping the caruncles don't spontaneously appear among
us.
Roundtable
> Roundtable, are you sure you didn't read this before you got your
> cyst?
No, it started as a teeny-weeny mole when I was 11. Then it grew.
So did I.
>
> bookburn, hoping the caruncles don't spontaneously appear among
> us.
Actually, I hope they do, because every eye has one. It's the
sort of triangular fleshy thing in the corner of your eye, a
sort of third eyelid, and contains sweat glands and hair follicles.
Roundtable
bookburn
> "bookburn" <book...@yahoo.com> wrote in message
>
> > Roundtable, are you sure you didn't read this before you got
your
> > cyst?
>
> No, it started as a teeny-weeny mole when I was 11. Then it
grew.
> So did I.
> >
> > bookburn, hoping the caruncles don't spontaneously appear
among
> > us.
>
> Actually, I hope they do, because every eye has one. It's the
> sort of triangular fleshy thing in the corner of your eye, a
> sort of third eyelid, and contains sweat glands and hair
follicles.
My table-top dictionary defines caruncle as: "An outgrowth on a
plant or animal such as a fowl's wattle or a protuberance near
the hilum of certain seeds." bb
Roundtable
> plant or animal such as a fowl's wattle or a protuberance near
> the hilum of certain seeds." bb
Thesaurus:
Focus Word: caruncle
1. a small fleshy prominence or excrescence; especially the small,
reddish body, the caruncula lacrymalis, in the inner angle of the eye.
an excrescence or appendage surrounding or near the hilum of a seed. a
naked, flesh appendage, on the head of a bird, as the wattles of a
turkey, etc.
Gobble-gobble. Reminds me of Thanksgiving.
bookburn
"In the inner angle of the eye" makes it sound rather
Shakespearean. bb