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A few Stratfordian scholars have recognized and struggled with the problem. The first was probably the antiquarian John Britton. In 1816, he summarily dismissed Hollar’s engraving in Dugdale’s book as “tasteless and inaccurate” (13). In 1853, J.O. Halliwell-Phillipps called it “evidently too inaccurate to be of any authority” (Greenwood Problem 247 fn. 1). a b Schoenbaum, S. (1987). William Shakespeare: A Compact Documentary Life, Oxford University Press, p. 308. By the nineteenth century Shakespeare's reputation had advanced to the point of what came to be known as bardolatry. Statues and other memorials began to appear outside Britain, while in Britain itself Shakespeare's status as national poet was consolidated. Edmondson: A memorial bust for Shakespeare was erected in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, between his Greene then draws a contrast with the Stratford bust. Its thoughtfulness, he says, “seems to arise from a chearfulness of thought.” The Bard retired “and liv’d chearfully amongst his friends.” His disposition was “ chearful” (Greene’s emphases). At another point, he refers to him fondly and not a little possessively as “old Billy our Bard” (115). His cheerful Shakespeare can only have been the result of his repair and “re-beautification” of the gloomy visage that Dugdale saw and sketched for Hollar’s engraving. Figure 6: R.B. Wheler’s engraving from his 1806 book.
Mark Brown, ‘A New View: is this the real Shakespeare?’, Guardian (10 March 2009) < http://www.theguardian.com/culture/2009/mar/10/shakespeare-cobbe-portrait> [Accessed 12 March 2014]. Mitchell, Forest L. and Lasswell, James L., A Dazzle of Dragonflies (College Station, Texas: Texas A&M University Press, 2005) Langston, the vicar of Beoley who published his account of How Shakespeare’s Skull was Stolen and Found, indicated that the alleged theft of the skull from Stratford had been initiated by Horace Walpole. Walpole was intimate for many years with Lady Browne, who was in fact a member of the Sheldon family, born at Beoley. [13] There is a depression in the forehead of the skull, near the top of the frontal bone. Indeed, there are several depressions grouped around the coronal suture, which also appear in the portraits. My own sense is that these depressions were lifelong distinguishing features: one can almost imagine the midwife gripping the head with her left hand a little too forcefully as she pulled the baby from his mother’s womb. [14]Esdaile, 1928, pp. 123-4. For the subject of images of Shakespeare, see D. Piper, ' "O Sweet Mr. Shakespeare I'll Have his Picture": the changing image of Shakespeare's person', National Portrait Gallery, London, 1964, and R. Strong, 'Tudor and Jacobean Portraits', London, 1969, pp. 276-86. Richardson, Ralph, Saint Leonard’s Church Beoley, Worcs. A brief history and guide for visitors (Beoley: St Leonard’s Church, 2002) Most Stratfordian biographers avoid the issue, among them: Stephen Greenblatt (2004), and notably in his collected works of Shakespeare for Norton (1997), Michael Wood (2003), Park Honan (1998), and Stanley Wells (1995). None mentions Dugdale’s sketch or the engraving that Hollar made from it for Dugdale’s book, even though Dugdale’s sketch is the earliest eye-witness evidence of what the monument looked like. Dugdale was also the first to transcribe the abstruse epitaph on the monument. Stratfordian biographers, however, rarely try to explain what it means, even though it, too, is primary source evidence suggesting what contemporaries thought about the man for whom it was written and engraved. Evidently, they do not want to confront what the effigy and the epitaph might reveal about his identity. In 1746, an acting company performed Othello in Stratford as a benefit for the “repairing of the Original Monument of the Poet” (57). Moved by civic pride, Greene wrote a forty-five-line prologue for the performance, including these:
A statue was created for Logan Circle, Philadelphia in 1926, designed by Alexander Stirling Calder. It does not depict Shakespeare himself, but rather the figures of Touchstone the jester from As You Like It, representing comedy, and Hamlet, representing tragedy. Touchstone is lounging with his head tilted laughing, his feet hanging over the top of the tall stone pedestal and his left arm resting on Hamlet's legs. Hamlet is seated, brooding, his knife dangling over Touchstone's body. [22] The opening lines of the famous All the world's a stage speech from As You Like It are inscribed on the pedestal beneath the figures. This was identified as recently as 2009 as being of Shakespeare. [1]There is also a portrait of Shakespeare’s patron, the Earl of Southampton, at Hatchlands Park in Surrey, where the Cobbe portrait is on display. The Cobbe portrait suggests that Shakespeare had a wall-eye. The left eye is set at a different angle from the right, and the eyebrow above the left eye appears to be slightly drooping or swollen. [2]We can also make out depressions in the forehead, and a faint line running down the left cheek.
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Dr Paul Edmondson, the head of research at the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) in Stratford-upon-Avon, said: “This is truly significant. We can therefore say that is how Shakespeare wanted to be represented in our memories. This is massive. It is compelling new light on what he looked like and how he operated.” The memorial bust of Shakespeare at Holy Trinity Church in Stratford is considered one of two authentic likenesses, because it was approved by people who knew him. The other such likeness is the engraving by Martin Droeshout in the 1623 First Folio edition of Shakespeare’s plays, produced seven years after his death by his friends and colleagues from the King’s Men. Timeline
Dobson, Michael (1992), The Making of the National Poet: Shakespeare, Adaptation and Authorship, 1660-1769, Oxford, England: Clarendon Press, pp. 137–38, 159–60 ISBN 0198183232. In early 1585, the couple had twins, Judith and Hamnet, completing the family. In the years ahead, Anne and the children lived in Stratford while Shakespeare worked in London, although we don’t know when he moved there. Some later observers have suggested that this separation, and the couple’s relatively few children, were signs of a strained marriage, but we do not know that, either. Someone pursuing a theater career had no choice but to work in London, and many branches of the Shakespeares had small families.
What Did Shakespeare Look Like?". The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust. Archived from the original on 14 October 2008 . Retrieved 17 October 2008.
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