A True Likeness?

[poliphilo]

Professor Stanley Wells believes that this-



The Droeshout engraving- the only fully vouched for contemporary likeness (apart from the pudding-faced bust on the tomb)- and all the other supposed portraits of Shakespeare are derived from this-



The Cobbe portrait- which - until recently-  was on display in a country house in Ireland. I don't see it myself. All Jacobethan portraits of young-to-middle-aged men look a bit like our idea of Shakespeare- It's generic- but get down to details and nothing fits. Take the eyes; the Droeshout eyes are rounder and more heavily-lidded. Take the nose; the Droeshout nose has a knobbier tip. The cheekbones are different. The forehead (even allowing for Droeshout's man being older and balder) is entirely different. If I'd commissioned Droeshout to copy the Cobbe portrait and he'd come up with what he did I'd have sent him back to his drawing board.

As for provenance, the Cobbe portrait's claim rests on it having been inherited from an 18th century descendant of Shakespeare's patron, the Earl of Southampton. And that's it. No-one seems to have seriously identified it as a portrait of Shakespeare until a modern member of the Cobbe family spotted its similarity to a portrait in the Folger collection - which is universally regarded as an 18th century fake- or more precisely as a 17th century portrait of an unknown sitter which has been substantially altered to look like our idea of Shakespeare. So a faint resemblance- and it is faint- and generic-  to a faked up "likeness" demonstrates that the Cobbe portrait is the source of all the portraits? I don't think so.

There's a book in the offing. Unless it contains killer facts that weren't revealed at the press conference- which seems unlikely- I'm putting the whole thing down to wishful thinking . 

Comments

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Actually, it looks more like the Earl of Southampton than Shakespeare to me.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Well, yes- it could be anybody.

I'm amazed by how little scepticism there's been in the media. Cobbe and Wells are getting away with saying they're 90% certain this is Shakespeare, when they haven't got a shred of evidence.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

I say curse be damned, let's dig him up, see if he's even there and get some DNA testing, etc. and measuring on any bones left.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I believe they tried that once- a while back- and found nothing but mud.

I could be wrong.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Last discussions around May of 2007, they had not done so and the local council was hotly objecting to any attempts.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I wonder where I got hold of that story then? Perhaps it was a piece of fiction.

My sympathies are with the council. He's lain undisturbed for over 400 years. Let him continue to rest in peace.

[idahoswede.livejournal.com]

Besides, given the economy of Stratford upon Avon and everything, why dig him up, find he's not there and ruin a prize tourist attraction?

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Exactly.

I see, BTW, that Stratford church needs something like £2,000,000 for repairs.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

I agree with you. The figure looks too dashing and the clothes too rich.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My first reaction was enthusiastic- but then I looked at the evidence for identifying this guy as Shakespeare- and there isn't any.

[ibid.livejournal.com]

Because it's Shakespeare of course. We want to possess him so desperately

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I feel some of that hunger. I'd love for this portrait to the real deal- but I just don't think it is.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

My first thought was NO! They just aren't the same person. Still, I'd like to see the Cobbe portrait. It'll be at the Shakespeare birthplace from April-September. Even the Trust is embracing it as a likeness of the Bard.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

My cynical reaction is that everyone is jumping on board because they see it as a moneyspinner. I think the subject is just some random Jacobean bloke. I'm sure the Earl of Southampton had a fine collection of portraits of random Jacobean blokes.

[oakmouse]

I agree with you --- the facial features don't match that well. I'd like to see a computer analysis of the eyes, nose, etc. Also, seems to me this fellow is too young for the 1610 dating of the portrait.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Yes. If this is a man of 46 he's been using some very effective skin cream.

[clindau.livejournal.com]

This all reminds me of the "Paul is dead" hoo-ha in the late '60's. I remember going over the Beatles' album covers with a magnifying glass to spot clues to Paul's tragic demise. Oh look--he's barefoot! Oh look--his back is turned! That means he's dead! Let's go play "Revolution #9 backwards again!

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I remember that too. Those were the days!

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

As mediaeval priors got Stone Disease, so Shakespeareans get Biography Disease. It's an occupational hazard.

Wells has not been a flake until now, but this is awfully slender. Three years' research?

Nine

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I reckon he's aiming to end his career with a final, brilliant coup....

It seems awfully like an old man's folly to me.

[nineweaving.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much my take on it.

Nine

[petercampbell.livejournal.com]

A book's in the offing? So no financial incentive to their wishful thinking then...

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Perish the thought!

[veronica-milvus.livejournal.com]

I could almost believe they were the same guy but their noses are diffrent shapes. The top one has a bulbous end to it, the lower one is more aquiline. Not convinced.

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

I think we have to accept the Droeshout engraving as a reasonable likeness. Shakespeare's friends and colleagues commissioned and accepted it- and Ben Jonson went out of his way to praise it.

It's not just the nose, it's the eyes, the shape of the skull and the height and breadth of the forehead. This isn't the same man.