A LONG-LOST PAINTING EMERGES AS THE MOST STRIKING PORTRAYAL OF THE RENOWNED SHAKESPEARE AT THE WINTER OF HIS LIFE In this short study the Sharp Ogden’s portrait of Shakespeare (WS) approaching his fiftieth year is compared to other paintings showing The Bard. Very little is known about that portrait (Fig. 1), it was long the property of an old Lancashire family, while later William Sharp Ogden became the owner. Even without any substantial history, for Sharp Ogden that portrait was a genuine representation of WS because as he described ‘’the general modelling of the face and features is quite in accord with that shown in the Chandos and Droeshout portraits as well as the Stratford bust’’. With today powerful face recognition tools, that fitting together approach is made much more easier and this short study aims to confirm Sharp Ogden’s claim using also recent findings about WS.
Fig. 1, Portrait of WS as shown in William Sharp Ogden’s book (1912).