It is the face of a good listener, as well as of someone who exercised a natural restraint.
From the brochure accompanying the Shakespeare Found exhibit at Stratford-upon-Avon, cited in this morning's New York Times, describing the Cobbes portrait, recently identified as the only portrait of Shakespeare painted in his lifetime.
More Shakespeare at detritus »
Update 3/19: Others disagree »
4 comments:
Thank you for this! I'll prob write a tiny article about it. Btw did you note that there have been "generations of speculation" as to whether or not Shakeshaft was bisexual? These people cannot have read the sonnets.
so agree with your tweet -- the man had to be bi-.
it's curious to me that folks struggle with that possibility, given the protean nature of his work. Shakespeare's work is remarkable because of his facility to see and perceive from so many different perspectives -- makes perfect sense that his sexuality would be polymorphous too.
it's hard for me to imagine him as butch and hetero- -- it just doesn't fit.
Sure, and also, his work is full of sensuality and sexualised pleasure. What I enjoy about this portrait is precisely that it looks like a guy who would be a Don Juan. Someone in keeping with his work would be someone who would have lots of affairs and enjoy sex with whatever kinds of people, but who would also be aware that solace comes from intimacy and love. And also someone more interested in personality and the individual than the gender. I can totally read that into this portrait, unlike, say, mr. Baldy McLifeless from the Droeshout print. There, he seems more like the lecherous, balding middle manager, which is a little less comfortable. So I do enjoy the idea that Shakespeare was hot (and I don't seem to be the only one). Because his mind certainly was.
!!! what a perfect portrait to fit what I didn't realize is exactly what he should have looked like. How absurdly exciting.
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