A New Portrait of Shakespeare; The Case of the Ely Palace Painting as Against That of the So-Called Droeshout Original (Paperback)

This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1903. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... v.--The The history of the Ely Palace portrait is brief. Ely Palace in the miscellaneous column of an architectural amting. 'weekly The Builder) occurred the following brief notice, entitled " Portrait of Shakespeare" A picture, which is believed by some, well qualified to judge, to be a contemporary portrait of the great bard, has come into the possession of the excellent Bishop of Ely. It was found in an obscure broker's shop, where nothing could be learnt of its previous history. It has no name on i it, but cleaning has made apparent in one part, "Aet. 39, 1603," which agrees with the age of Shakespeare in that year. We have not yet seen the picture, and cannot at once, after so many disappointments, give implicit credence to the statement; what we know, however, of those who have examined the portrait, and of the judgment of the Rt. Rev. Bishop himself, induces us to believe it will be found correct, and that a great discovery has been made. Five weeks later, on December 26, 1846, this paragraph was added, entitled "The Bishop of Ely's Shakespeare Portrait" --The paragraph which appeared in our pages relative to a picture in the possession of the Bishop of Ely, supposed to be a portrait of Shakespeare, excited considerable interest, and was reprinted by the majority of our contemporaries. We have since seen the picture, and are prepossessed in favour of its genuineness. It is without the beard, closely November 21, 1846, vol. iv.( p. 556. resembling the engraving in the folio edition, to which were appended Ben Jonson's well-known lines. The painting is on a panel, i ft. 8 in. by i ft. 3 J in., and when found was in an old ebony frame, covered with dirt, and disregarded. It was bought for a few shillings, solely on the ground of its likeness to Sha...