Influence
In addition to the Chesterfield portrait, a copy was made at least as early as 1689, by an unknown artist. Many 18th century images used it as a model for portrayals of Shakespeare.
The painting was engraved by Gerard Van der Gucht for Nicholas Rowe's 1709 edition of Shakespeare's works. Another print was made by Jacobus Houbraken in 1747.
Because the images of Shakespeare are either doubtful in provenance or lacking expression, no one image seems to reconcile well with readers' imaginations. "Some Victorians recoiled at the idea that the Chandos portrait represented Shakespeare. One critic, J. Hain Friswell, insisted 'one cannot readily imagine our essentially English Shakespeare to have been a dark, heavy man, with a foreign expression'." The Iraqi writer Safa Khulusi argued that its "un-English" look was evidence for his theory that Shakespeare was an Arab.
Read more about this topic: Chandos Portrait
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