The Flower portrait is the name of one of the painted portraits of William Shakespeare. A 2005 investigation of the portrait led to the conclusion that it was a forged artwork painted in the 19th century.
The name originates with the painting's previous owners, the Flower family, who gave it to the Royal Shakespeare Company. The painting depicts Shakespeare gazing out of the picture and wearing a wide white collar. It has a signed date of 1609, but many art experts had been suspicious of its provenance before it was X-rayed in 2005.
The picture has been commonly used, for example, in the covers of Shakespeare's published plays. It is similar to, and most likely a copy of, the Droeshout engraving, which appeared in 1623 in the first folio publication of Shakespeare's plays.
Read more about Flower Portrait: History, 2004 Study
Famous quotes containing the words flower and/or portrait:
“I have passed down the river before sunrise on a summer morning, between fields of lilies still shut in sleep; and when, at length, the flakes of sunlight from over the bank fell on the surface of the water, whole fields of white blossoms seemed to flash open before me, as I floated along, like the unfolding of a banner, so sensible is this flower to the influence of the sun’s rays.”
—Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)
“Every portrait that is painted with feeling is a portrait of the artist, not of the sitter.”
—Oscar Wilde (1854–1900)