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by The National Portrait Gallery in London is planning an exhibition called Searching for Shakespeare. Several paintings of the famous playwright and poet, long thought to be his actual likeness, will be put on display together for the first time. Before presentation, however, all the paintings were subjected to scientific study and analysis of the paint, canvas, and content of the picture itself to determine authenticity. The result? None of the works were proven to be Shakespeare's portrait. Some were completed during his lifetime, but betray their inauthenticity by subtle details in the painting. Others were finished as late as the 19th century.
I have heard of your paintings too, well enough; God has given you one face, and you make yourselves another.
- William Shakespeare, Hamlet, Act 3 scene 1
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shakespeare biography by nickfranklin :: NR5 :: Show
for anybody looking for something to read:
Stephen Greenblatt, Will in the World: How Shakespeare Became Shakespeare
i just finished it, and it's amazing. that said, it's also (literally) one of those books where, as Rodney Bolt said in History Play, "all references in the plays to dolphins are lined up to suggest that, maybe, as a boy Shakespeare traveled 12 miles to see a water pageant staged by the Earl of Leicester in his castle grounds at Kenilworth." greenblatt's an author who gets to do that, however--he's also the editor of the norton shakespeare, which is referenced liberally in will.
here's an excerpt from the new york review of books. essentially, it's a condensation of a chapter greenblatt spends on the connections between hamlet, and the death of shakespeare's son, hamnet.