The unveiling and proposed sale for £10 million of an early XNUMXth century portrait, purportedly of William Shakespeare, has caused a stir, as attribution is being debated, but what does the evidence show?
The inside frame of the 20 x 18-inch portrait bears the caption Shakespeare, but this is an XNUMXth or XNUMXth century addition, when it was revised the painting.
In the work, the portrayed figure is a bald, bearded man in a shirt who is accompanied by the helpful inscription at the top left and right of the canvas: 1608 and AE (age) 44, that is, the correct age for the playwright at that time.
The portrait in turn. Source: The art newspaper
For its part, an examination of the image of the courtauld institute in 2016 he concluded that the pigments were consistent with the period, while their good state of preservation indicated that they remained in the same place for a long period, possibly centuries. The cleanup removed a thick black beard to reveal an original beard, trimmed and pointed.
However, removing the frame for closer examination revealed the stylized letters RP in the upper right part of the painting: the signature of Robert Peake the Elder (c.1551-1619), who in 1576 was recorded as paid by the Office of the Revelers as he supervised the performance of plays for the Queen Elizabeth I.
Several records show payments to Peake for commissions, including a portrait of Henry, Prince of Wales in 1603. Peake became King's Painter Sergeant James I around 1607.
Peake's son William (c. 1580-1639) owned a successful printing press and was acquainted with the engraver martin droeshout, who created the image of Shakespeare for the first folio of the complete works of 1623.
Thus, Lionel Cust, in his book Shakespeare's England, points to the eminence of William Peake together with Messrs Sudbury and Humble as the printers chosen for the portraits of celebrities of the moment.
Both Shakespeare and Robert Peake lived nearby and worked there before and after you moved from clerkenwell a Blackfriar's in 1608. Peake painted scenery and other elements for the theatre, the only establishment covered in King's Men or Shakespeare Company, where Shakespeare rehearsed and performed many of his plays.
With Shakespeare at the height of his powers in 1608, a portrait from that era would make sense, and who better to commission than the Sergeant King's Painter, whom he must have met through the theater.
In short, the evidence is circumstantial but quite convincing: the portrait is of the correct period and bears a contemporary inscription indicating Shakespeare's correct age; Peake, arguably the preeminent official court artist of the day, has been identified as an associate of the playwright; and the artist's son printed works of the creator of the engraved portrait of the First Folio.
duncan phillips, who discovered the connections between Peake, Droeshout and the history of the portrait, says: "There is more evidence of this portrait of Shakespeare than any other known painting of the playwright".
The canvas is being sold by its anonymous owner by private treaty without auction and is currently on display at the hotel Grosvenor House in the west of London.
