Shakespeare Week Portraits
The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust Portrait
Who painted it?
Unknown
How big is it?
Width 620 mm (frame)
Height 760 mm (frame)
What is it made of?
Oil paint on panel
Artist Biography
Nobody knows who painted this picture of Shakespeare. The portrait is a copy of the famous ‘Cobbe Portrait’ (whose artist is also unknown), and is thought to have been painted at around the same time.
About the Picture
What do you think this portrait tells us about William Shakespeare? The picture shows Shakespeare as a handsome young man dressed in all of his finery. The gold braid and buttons on his doublet would have shown anyone looking at the portrait how wealthy and successful Shakespeare was.
However, some art historians have questioned whether it is Shakespeare in this portrait. Does the person in the portrait look the way you imagined Shakespeare to be? Do you think he looks like the other portraits of Shakespeare in this exhibition? We might never be certain about whether it is Shakespeare in this portrait or not. What do you think?
Try this…
Find out about clothes that people wore in Elizabethan times. What might a rich person wear? You can use some Shakespeare Week resources to create your own Elizabethan portrait here.