William Shakespeare (formerly known as)

Anonymous, Anglo-Netherlandish, 17th century|Richard Earlom|William Shakespeare|Cornelius Janssen

ca. 1770 · Mezzotint · Drawings and Prints

Engraved as a frontispiece for Charles Jennens's 1770 edition of "King Lear," this engraving is based on a painting once attributed to Cornelius Johnson (or Janssen), believed in the nineteenth-century to represent Shakespeare at the age of forty. The painting passed from through multiple owners and is now at the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington DC. Today, the "Janssen Portrait" is no longer thought to represent Shakespeare and has been retitled "Portrait of an Unknown Gentleman, possibly Thomas Overbury" (also see 17.3.756-2422).

Artist

Anonymous, Anglo-Netherlandish, 17th century|Richard Earlom|William Shakespeare|Cornelius Janssen

Date

ca. 1770

Medium

Mezzotint

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917