What Did Shakespeare Really Look Like? - Bookworm History

[@QuillCafe]

People are either arguing over what Shakespeare looked like, who he fancied, or whether he penned his works at all. We may never know...and perhaps that's for the best. If we had a definite answer, what would these scholars squabble over?

[@BookwormHistory]

Exactly! Questions like those are fun to ponder as a purely academic exercise, but when they start to overshadow the value of Shakespeare's work it's time to take a step back. It's the words that matter, after all, not the face. But like you say, what then would they squabble about?

[@QuillCafe]

BookwormHistory I'm sure they'd find something... Even if they had to pick another subject matter.

[@AB-ro3fu]

im a new fan of this channel my good friend its the 4th vedio in a raw thanks for sharing .

[@SpaltonTAG]

A common misconception with Greco Roman sculptures

[@tomasd1741]

I've just found your channel, and it's awesome... Great to meet it

[@BookwormHistory]

Thanks so much, I'm glad you found it!

[@joannemoore3976]

My money is on the Chandos portrait, it looks quite a lot like the Droeshot engraving and there's a certain look in his eyes 😅

[@Jeffhowardmeade]

An antiquarian named John Weever copied down the inscription on the monument in an undated notebook. The latest date on any tombstone that he copied down was late in 1617, which suggests that his visit was probably in about 1618. If by some chance the guesswork on Weever's notebook is wrong, the typesetting for the First Folio began in 1621. Digges, whose mother and step father (who was an overseer of Shakespeare's will), lived in Stratford, so he must have seen the monument by then.

[@BookwormHistory]

+Caius Martius Coriolanus You're absolutely correct! In the interest of keeping this video as short as I could, I decided to stick to a range of dates that were set in stone (so to speak). Thanks!

[@suziewheeler6530]

Find a painting of edward de vere. There u go

[@MeHomer]

Fail. Where are the images?

[@paulaunger3061]

Love hearing you read poetry. What about the occasional vid of you reading a Shakespearean sonnet? (#55 is pretty good!)

[@BookwormHistory]

Oh, that would be fun! I've experimented with short stories although I never really thought about poetry, but that's definitely something I could work with more!

[@MarianoBulaBlackOrpheus]

yes,sir

[@zyxmyk]

i thought there was a death mask. that pretty much removes the doubt, doesn't it? i thought the death mask looked like robert louis stevenson.

[@CulinarySpy]

Do you have any recollection where you saw that there was a death mask? I'd love to see any actual evidence or references if you can point me to it?

[@GAZDAGP]

The answer is pretty damn simple. There are 2 portraits of Shakespeare from his life: the Chandos portrait and the Droeshout print. The Chandos he posed for, but the Droeshout print was re-etched a number of times, pretty much for every printing of the folio, and its features were altered - eyebrows straightened, vacant gaze. So the earlier a print of it you look at, the more it resembles the Chandos portrait. Also, since it's an etching, it's a reverse of the real image: which means if you want to know what Shakespeare actually looked like, you have to match up the reverse (mirror-image) of the earliest existing print of the Droeshout portrait with the Chandos painting. And most of the features - shape of the bags under the eyes, eyebrows, forehead - do match.

[@luckybag6814]

Etching hadn't been invented in Droeshout's time. His portrait was engraved, not etched. Such ignorance undermines your conclusion.