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Monday, March 09, 2009

The Faces of Shakespeare

Stanley Wells has the goods on the Cobbe portrait.

I personally like to imagine Shakespeare having weight issues as the reason for the fluctuating rotundity of his face in various paintings and carvings.

  • At 3/09/2009 02:31:00 PM, Blogger Doctor Cleveland wrote…

    Or, as the old saying goes, "Shakespeare can never be too rich or too thin."

     

  • At 3/09/2009 03:01:00 PM, Blogger Simplicius wrote…

    That's funny--actually has me laughing.

    Raises the possibility that the Chandos portrait might have been his own Jessica Simpson / K Fed moment.

     

  • At 3/10/2009 01:32:00 PM, Blogger Liza Blake wrote…

    Is it just me, or is "hot" Shakespeare's hair really strange (totally flat for one third, then poofed out for the rest)? Maybe he wasn't naturally balding in the later portraits, but trying out another crazy hair design.

    If this hypothesis is correct, it greatly troubles the earlier claim about Shakespeare's syphilis ...

     

  • At 3/11/2009 09:09:00 PM, Blogger Simplicius wrote…

    It's not just you, Liza B. His hair kind of reminds me of one of Ben Affleck's bad hair styles from his earlier, nerdier days. Think Chasing Amy.

     

  • At 3/15/2009 06:50:00 PM, Blogger Pamphilia wrote…

    Liza, I think you've just found evidence for the early modern faux-hawk.

     

  • At 3/17/2009 05:52:00 AM, Anonymous Anonymous wrote…

    Hey,
    I dunno where to post this, but I read your blog about the "revenger's tragedy" which we are studying at the moment (I'm an undergrad. student). I am looking to apply Dadaism to this play and am searching the net for information, ideas, links that might help inspire some sort of process which will ensure a dadaist outcome...
    any ideas, links, websites? Did you discuss this with your students as well?
    Cheers!

    L

     

  • At 8/08/2009 07:32:00 AM, Blogger Dr John Yeoman wrote…

    Surely the famous engraving of Shakespeare on the title page of the First Folio depicts merely a mask? Its edges can be clearly seen below the chin line. The bard's aberrant rotundity was merely a matter of his impostor's wardrobe of the day.

     

  • At 8/08/2009 07:36:00 AM, Blogger Flavia wrote…

    Oh, John, you have been seduced at last by the Oxfordians. Doesn't everyone know that Shakespeare was a time travelling computer sent back by MIT in furtherance of its BRUTUS linguistic creativity project? The matter is fully explored at: http://yeomaniana.blogspot.com.

     


 Scribble some marginalia



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