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We still need to account for those distinguishing facial features, some of which appear to be pathological or traumatic in nature. The discovery of the death mask in the mid-19th century was naturally exciting, and not just for artists; scientists were fascinated by it, too. Was there any way of proving beyond all reasonable doubt that the death mask was Shakespeare’s? Potentially, yes. If his grave in Holy Trinity Church were opened, and his skull exhumed, it could be compared with the death mask. Shakespeare’s gravestone in the chancel of Holy Trinity does not mention his name or any personal information. Rather, it reads: The painted effigy is a half-height depiction of Shakespeare holding a quill, with a sheet of paper on a cushion in front of him. In the 17th century, a Jacobean sculptor called Gerard Johnson was identified as the artist behind it. Orlin believes that the limestone monument was in fact created by Nicholas Johnson, a tomb-maker, rather than his brother Gerard, a garden decorator.
Shake a lance’ is so obviously a pun on Shakespeare’s name that we might overlook what Ben Jonson let slip: the ‘lance’ was ‘brandished at the eyes’. A popular weapon of the day was the poignard or poniard. It was stabbing weapon – blunt-edged, often three-sided, with a sharp point. Ben Jonson seems to have carried one, a dagger ‘with a white haft’ which he ‘ordinarily wore at his girdle’. [18] In his book, Dugdale is suspiciously reticent about the Stratford man. He wrote more than three thousand words on the town of Stratford, but he notices the monument briefly only as an afterthought in the last sentence — There is a portrait that I have kept till last, because it is very special. It was brought to my attention by the owner, who had already established that it was painted on a wooden panel in the early years of the 17th century. We’ll call it the Wadlow portrait.TATIS٠53 DIE 23 AP R. History [ edit ] Painting of monument by limner John Hall made before its 1748–49 restoration We don’t know who commissioned it, but I imagine it was a Catholic. In fact, I suspect that most of our Shakespeare portraits were Catholic keepsakes. They commemorate a martyr, a man who was killed because he was an eloquent and persuasive mouthpiece for the Catholic cause [19]; we remember the words of Horace – ‘You famous defendant of troubled clients’ – which are hinted at in the inscription on the Cobbe portrait. If we look more closely at the doublet in the Wadlow portrait we see little groupings of five points arranged in the form of a quincunx and representing, perhaps, the Five Wounds of Christ, which was a Catholic symbol of resistance to the Protestant policies of Elizabeth and James I. I had every preparation made and assisted in erecting a sort of scaffolding before I was aware of the difficult task I was going to perform. In short, instead of one day’s work, I have found four or five, as I mean to mould the whole figure. (6) Ralph Richardson, Saint Leonard’s Church Beoley, Worcs. A brief history and guide for visitors (Beoley: St Leonard’s Church, 2002), p. 34. But now it seems the mystery has been solved. A groundbreaking discovery means we finally know at least how Shakespeare wanted to be seen.
Critics have generally been unkind about the appearance of the sculpture. Thomas Gainsborough wrote that "Shakespeare's bust is a silly smiling thing". J. Dover Wilson, a critic and biographer of Shakespeare, once remarked that the Bard's effigy makes him look like a "self-satisfied pork butcher." [31] Sir Nikolaus Pevsner pointed out that the iconographical type represented by the figure is that of a scholar or divine; his description of the effigy is "a self-satisfied schoolmaster". [32]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. Modern London is a very different place from the city Shakespeare would have known. But, there are still a few locations where you can discover tantalising traces of Shakespeare’s life and legacy. 1. The Theatre, Shoreditch Roper, David. “The Truth Behind Shakespeare’s Monument at Stratford-upon-Avon.” 1994 ( https://www.big-lies.org/de-vere-shakespeare/edward-de-vere-david-roper.html).
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