A memorial portrait of Shakespeare, on canvas, bust length within a painted oval.
ENGLISH School, 18th century.. [N.p. but England: n.d. but circa 1750]. Oil on canvas. Early partially carved gilt wood and gesso frame. Condition: relined, recent revarnishing. Eighteenth-century portraits of Shakespeare are surprisingly rare, and 16th/17th century portraits are even rarer: there are only four currently accepted 16th/17th century sources for images of the 'Bard of Avon', of which only the so-called Chandos portrait (attributed to John Taylor and painted in circa 1600-1610) is currently thought (possibly) to have been executed from life. The best known image is probably the Droeshout portrait - an engraving by Martin Droeshout the Younger (1601-after 1639) produced for the title page of the first folio of Shakespeare's Works (London: 1623). Another trusted source is the sculpted bust of Shakespeare which adorns the monument erected at his family's behest in about 1620 in the Holy Trinity Church, Straford-on-Avon, shortly after his death in 1616. The present image is based on the fine portrait painted by the Dutch-born Gerard Soest in about 1667. The portrait "is one of the earliest examples of a memorial portrait of Shakespeare and was probably produced in the late 1660s as a constructed likeness of Shakespeare for the restoration period" (Tanya Cooper and others. Searching for Shakespeare [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, p.70]), it was probably done from life but using an actor of the period as a model. This now-unknown individual was supposed by those who had known Shakespeare, to have been the spitting-image of Shakespeare. The present image is a reverse version of the Soest portrait, suggesting that it was copied from an engraving: one obvious candidate is the mezzotint version by John Simon (1675?-1751) first published in 1725. a striking, relatively early, memorial or imaginary portrait of the greatest name in english literature. Cf. Tanya Cooper and others. Searching for Shakespeare (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), p.70.
A memorial portrait of Shakespeare, on canvas, bust length within a painted oval.
ENGLISH School, 18th century.. [N.p. but England: n.d. but circa 1750]. Oil on canvas. Early partially carved gilt wood and gesso frame. Condition: relined, recent revarnishing. Eighteenth-century portraits of Shakespeare are surprisingly rare, and 16th/17th century portraits are even rarer: there are only four currently accepted 16th/17th century sources for images of the 'Bard of Avon', of which only the so-called Chandos portrait (attributed to John Taylor and painted in circa 1600-1610) is currently thought (possibly) to have been executed from life. The best known image is probably the Droeshout portrait - an engraving by Martin Droeshout the Younger (1601-after 1639) produced for the title page of the first folio of Shakespeare's Works (London: 1623). Another trusted source is the sculpted bust of Shakespeare which adorns the monument erected at his family's behest in about 1620 in the Holy Trinity Church, Straford-on-Avon, shortly after his death in 1616. The present image is based on the fine portrait painted by the Dutch-born Gerard Soest in about 1667. The portrait "is one of the earliest examples of a memorial portrait of Shakespeare and was probably produced in the late 1660s as a constructed likeness of Shakespeare for the restoration period" (Tanya Cooper and others. Searching for Shakespeare [New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006, p.70]), it was probably done from life but using an actor of the period as a model. This now-unknown individual was supposed by those who had known Shakespeare, to have been the spitting-image of Shakespeare. The present image is a reverse version of the Soest portrait, suggesting that it was copied from an engraving: one obvious candidate is the mezzotint version by John Simon (1675?-1751) first published in 1725. a striking, relatively early, memorial or imaginary portrait of the greatest name in english literature. Cf. Tanya Cooper and others. Searching for Shakespeare (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2006), p.70.
Try LotSearch and its premium features for 7 days - without any costs!
Be notified automatically about new items in upcoming auctions.
Create an alert
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
.jpg "Source: Christie's")
