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A RARE EARLY SHAKESPEARE PORTRAIT
(Shakespeare, William). Portrait of William Shakespeare. A version of the half-length portrait by Gerard Soest, First half of the 18th century.
Oil on canvas, in an antique-style ornate gilt frame. Image size approx. 29 ½ x 24 ½ inches, overall size approx. 37 x 32 ½ inches. Cleaned, with a firm wax lining. Minor filling of cracquelure in the face and in the dark area of the neck, some old varnish on the black areas. Generally in fine condition
This striking portrait of Shakespeare is an early version of one of the earliest accepted representations of Shakespeare, the Soest portrait of the 1660s, now at Shakespeare's Birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon. The painting is in the style of John Vanderbank (d. 1739), himself a follower of Sir Godfrey Kneller, and it has been suggested that the portrait may have been executed by Vanderbank himself.
The Soest portrait on which this painting is based 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. By this date the [post-Restoration] theatrical revival was well established. . . . The portrait was reproduced in engravings and oil copies, which ensured that it retained a popular following into the nineteenth century ads a convincing portrait of Shakespeare" (Tarnya Cooper, Searching for Shakespeare, National Gallery of Art, 2006). Only the celebrated Chandos portrait in the National Portrait Gallery is known to predate the Soest portrait. As Cooper notes, "the features of the sitter derive partly form the Chandos portrait," and David Piper suggests that "This portrait may reflect a tradition in living memory, early in the second half of the 17th century, of the poet's appearance."
In the First Folio Ben Jonson wrote of the engraved portrait of Shakespeare by Droeshout, "Reader, looke not on his Picture, but his Booke." The present oil portrait presents a rare opportunity for the collector to grace his library not only with a Folio but with a fine early portrait of the greatest writer in the English language and thus "look on" his picture and his book.
This is a rare opportunity to acquire an early portrait of Shakespeare reflecting the memory of those who had known him.
PROVENANCE. C.T. Swanston, sale at Christie's, London, 20 December 1875, to Dodd; Christie's Ancient and Modern Paintings sale of 29 April 1889.
LITERATURE AND REFERENCES. David Piper, O Sweet Mr Shakespeare, I'll have his Picture. The changing image of Shakespeare's person, 1600-1800, National Portrait Gallery, 1964. David Piper, The Image of the Poet: British poets and their portraits, 1982, pp.40-42. Tarnya Cooper, Searching for Shakespeare National Gallery of Art, 2006, p. 70.
Price: $90,000.
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