Now Playing: "Use Me Up" by Bill Withers
One of the more famous of the so-called portraits of the so-called William Shakespeare has been declared to be phogna bologna by some so-called experts. In this case, I choose to believe them ---because I've never had any reason to believe the Flower Portrait was the real deal, anyway.
Historians have disagreed about the origins of The Flower Portrait, which bears the inscription 1609.And, as we well know, the Droeshout Portrait itself is the single most successful cartoon ever created. Nonsense from start to finish, but what an image!
Not everyone has been convinced that the portrait, owned by the Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), was painted during the playwright's lifetime.
Now National Portrait Gallery experts in London confirm it is a fake which dates back to the early 19th century.
[...]
Chrome yellow paint, dating from around 1814, had been found embedded in the portrait.
The Droeshout Engraving was for the first edition of collected works
"We now think the portrait dates back to around 1818 to 1840, exactly the time when there was a resurgence of interest in Shakespeare's plays," she added.
The image bears a strong resemblance to the Droeshout Engraving, which accompanied the first folio of Shakespeare's works.
Remember: virtually everything you think you know about William Shakespeare is a lie. They don't teach you that in school, but that's only because it would get in the way of the poetry.
Posted by Toby Petzold
at 12:30 PM CDT
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Updated: Friday, 22 April 2005 12:40 PM CDT
Updated: Friday, 22 April 2005 12:40 PM CDT