Is there a new picture of Shakespeare

Shakespeae portrait as featured�in Canada's Globe and Mail, 11th May 2001

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Q.� No. Just give me the facts, sir.

A.� Facts may be a bit thin on the ground here, but I'll do my best with the existing data. What may be the only existing portrait of William Shakespeare painted in his lifetime has surfaced in Ontario. It belongs to a family that emigrated from England to Canada in the early 20th Century. The portrait, dated 1603, is said to have been passed from father to son for 12 generations.

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Q.� What's it like

A.� The miniature was painted with tempera - a mix of pigments and egg yolk - on a piece of oak, measuring 17in by 13in. Experts say the style is crude, ordinary and not particularly valuable as antique paintings go.

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Q.� So ...

A.� If the image can be proved to be the true face of the greatest writer of the English language, it will be priceless. Richard Monette, artistic director of the Stratford Festival in Ontario, said: 'If it's authentic, it's extraordinary to have found Shakespeare in the New World. This is a very romantic picture, the way we want Shakespeare to look, like a bohemian.'

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Q.� What do the scientists say about it

A.� The portrait was almost certainly painted in the early 1600s. 'The materials are consistent with the date 1603,' said Ian Wainwright, of the Canadian Conservation Institute, a government research agency that conducted eight years of chemical, radiocarbon, and microscopic studies. There is s snag, though.

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Q.� What

A.� The label on the back. It says: 'Shakspere, born April 23 1564, Died April 23 1616, Aged 52. This Likeness taken 1603, Age at that time 39 ys.' The label has been carbon-dated to between 1475 and 1640. But - and it's a big but - experts say that the exact date of Shakespeare's birth is still unclear and that it is unlikely a painter would label a portrait including the birth and death dates of the subject at least 13 years after the painting was completed.

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Q.� So what pictures of Shakespeare do exist

A.� There are at least 450 alleged portraits, but only two accepted likenesses. The first is a print by Martin Droeshout from the first folio of Shakespeare's plays. This is thought to have been seen by Anne Hathaway before its posthumous publication in 1623. The other is the bust from his tomb in the Church of the Holy Trinity in Stratford. There's also a painting of Shakespeare with an earring that hangs in the National Portrait Gallery in London. A death mask, which first emerged in Germany in the 19th Century, is also said to be of the Bard.

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Q.� So what's the provenance - as the art dealers say - of this portrait

A.� It has been hanging on a dining room wall in Ontario for years. The owner - who is remaining anonymous because he fears thieves and threats to his family - traces his roots back to John Sanders. Sanders, baptised in March, 1575, was a member of theatrical troupes including the King's Players, to which Shakespeare belonged. He is also said to have painted the picture. The owner decided to research the portrait as a retirement project.

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Q.� But what do the Shakespeare scholars think

A.� Professor Stanley Wells, chairman of the Shakespeare Birthday Trust, Stratford-upon-Avon, said: 'I'm very suspicious. It doesn't look at all like the accepted images of Shakespeare.' John Ashington, professor of English at the University of Toronto, said: 'It looks like another Elizabethan panel painting to me. The man looks too young [for] Shakespeare [in 1603]. And he would have been more respectably dressed at that time of his life. If he was sitting for a portrait, he would have dressed himself up more.'

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By Steve Cunningham