William Shakespeare

Martin Droeshout the Younger|William Shakespeare

19th century · Engraving · Drawings and Prints

A watermark in the paper used for this print ("MICHALET") tells us that it is a nineteenth-century reproduction of Doeshout's famous portrait engraving. Made originally to embellish the title page of the First Folio (1623), the image portrays Shakespeare with a prominent forehead, long hair covering his ears, a mustache and mouche (patch of hair below his lower lip). He wears a starched white collar, and a doublet adorned with lace or braid and fastened with covered buttons. Since the original image was approved by actor friends of Shakespeare, who edited the 1623 publication, and accompanied by a laudatory verse written another contemporary, Ben Jonson, it is considered a good likeness.

Artist

Martin Droeshout the Younger|William Shakespeare

Date

19th century

Medium

Engraving

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917