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PM0035
Prints: PM0035
Title
William Shakespeare
Technique
Engraving
Subject
Artist
Droeshout, Martin [ Copy after ]
Dimensions
Height: 20.3cm
Width: 14.4cm
Width: 14.4cm
Other materials
Cropped within plate
Inscription/signature
"TO THE READER / The Figure, that thou here seest put, /It was for gentle Shakespeare cut; / Wherein the graver had a strife / with Nature, to out-doo the life; / O, could he but have drawn his wit / As well in brasse, as he hath hit / His face, the print would then surpasse / All, that was ever writ in brasse, / But, Since he cannot, reader, looke / Not on his Picture, but his Booke. / Ben Jonson." (text below)
Provenance
Collected by John Dillon, the librarian of a Dr Simmons, up to the year 1838; at some point they enter the library of Sir Charles Ibbetson Bart, by whom presented to the Garrick Club, 1854
Other number
Gift 121 [Theatrical Prints]
1861 Library Catalogue [Portraits, A Collection of, with notices from contemporary prints (7 volumes)]
1861 Library Catalogue [Portraits, A Collection of, with notices from contemporary prints (7 volumes)]
Related works
A copy of th Droeshout engraving for the First Folio Edition of "Shakespeare" published 1623 by Heminge and Condell [See also PM0032 and PM0034]
This engraving is a copy of the famous Droeshout engraving for the first folio edition of "Mr William Shakespeare Comedies, Histories, & Tragedies" 1623.
The Droeshout engraving has had claims to authenticity, mainly based on Ben Jonson's commentary in the folio accomapnying the portrait [see also PM0035]:
The Figure, that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut;
Wherein the graverer had a strife with Nature, to out-doo the life;
O, could he but have drawne his wit
As well in brasse, as he hath hit
His face, the Print would then surpasse
All, that was ever writ in brasse,
But, Since he cannot, Reader, looke
Not on his Picture, but his Booke.
[This text was printed on the opposite page in the folio edition]
However Droeshout was only fifteen when Shakespeare died so it is highly unlikely that the portrait was made from life.
The Droeshout engraving has had claims to authenticity, mainly based on Ben Jonson's commentary in the folio accomapnying the portrait [see also PM0035]:
The Figure, that thou here seest put,
It was for gentle Shakespeare cut;
Wherein the graverer had a strife with Nature, to out-doo the life;
O, could he but have drawne his wit
As well in brasse, as he hath hit
His face, the Print would then surpasse
All, that was ever writ in brasse,
But, Since he cannot, Reader, looke
Not on his Picture, but his Booke.
[This text was printed on the opposite page in the folio edition]
However Droeshout was only fifteen when Shakespeare died so it is highly unlikely that the portrait was made from life.
