William Shakespeare
Not on view
Engraved by Houbraken for "Birch's Heads," this portrait shows Shakespeare wearing a simple jacket and soft white collar with open ties as in the Chandos portrait of ca. 1610 (National Portrait Gallery, London). The print elevates its subject by adding a simulated stone frame and a cluster of symbolic objects—a lyre, mask, trumpet, laurel leaves, and dagger—references to Shakespeare's accomplishments as a poet and dramatist, and to his posthumous fame.
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