Cobbe portrait
The so-called Cobbe portrait is a 17th century painting by an unknown artist. The identity of the sitter is unknown. According to the Shakespeare researcher Stanley Wells , it should be William Shakespeare .
According to Wells, it is "in all probability" the only surviving painting that was created during Shakespeare's lifetime. It was named after the Cobbe family, who have owned it for more than 300 years. The two portraits , which were previously considered to be the only authentic portrayals of Shakespeare, are the so-called " Droeshout engraving" on the front of the first complete edition of Shakespeare's works (1623 First Folio ), as well as the bust in the Holy Trinity Church of his hometown Stratford-upon- Avon (around 1623, renovated in the 18th century).
The Cobbe family had long assumed that the painting showed the seafarer Walter Raleigh , whose name was also written on the back of the picture. During a visit to the Folger Shakespeare Library , Alec Cobbe noticed the resemblance to the so-called Janssen portrait exhibited there and he contacted the chairman of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust , Stanley Wells. Subsequent X-ray and infrared examinations showed that the Cobbe portrait dates from around 1610, when Shakespeare was 46 years old. There are three copies of this painting, which Wells believes indicate that the sitter was a famous person. In addition, many of the paintings in the Cobbe collection came from the estate of the Third Earl of Southampton, Henry Wriothesley , including another portrait that is said to depict the Earl. The connection between the painting and the Earl, who was a Shakespeare patron, suggested that it was formerly his property.
The attribution is viewed with skepticism by many researchers, not least due to the low similarity between the Cobbe portrait and the Droeshout engraving, which is classified as authentic. Tarnya Cooper of the National Portrait Gallery thinks it more likely that the portrait shows the poet Thomas Overbury , which is now also suspected of the Janssen portrait.
Web links
- Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel : Shakespeare portrait: Much ado about nothing. In: Frankfurter Rundschau , March 13, 2009.
supporting documents
- ↑ Gina Thomas: A picture of a Shakespeare. In: Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung , March 9, 2009.
- ↑ That's No Lady, That's…. In: The Guardian , April 21, 2002.
- ↑ Now William Shakespeare looks way too handsome. In: Die Welt , March 11, 2009.
- ↑ Katherine Duncan-Jones : Shakespeare Unfound (ed)? In: The Times , March 18, 2009.