We don't really know.

There is no painting, drawing or sculpture that we can say with any certainty is a true likeness of Shakespeare or, indeed, that was made by anyone who knew the playwright. There are a number of pictures that, over the years, people have claimed - or willed - to be a likeness, but proof is hard to come by. In what follows you'll notice the repetition of qualifiers such as 'may be' or 'possible'.

The monument to Shakespeare in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, where the playwright is buried, may be a likeness. It was possibly commissioned by his son-in-law, John Hall, and Shakespeare's wife, Anne Hathaway, was still alive at the time the monument was erected (it was in place by 1623). Clearly both these people knew what Shakespeare looked like. The monument is made of marble, enclosing a Cotswold stone bust, and was crafted by Gheeerart Janssen (sometimes known as Gerard Johnson). His workshop was on the South Bank in London, close to the Globe theatre, and it is possible that he encountered Shakespeare there. You can see a picture of the monument at Holy Trinity's web site

This page explores some two-dimensional images of Shakespeare from the seventeenth century to the present day.

The Images

Shakespeare's head - the domed forehead, neatly clipped beard and moustache, the collar or ruff - is one of the best known images in the world, instantly recognised as the great playwright. While the image does nothing to inform the work it is integral to 'heritage' Shakespeare and Shakespeare as product. It gives Shakespeare cultural identity.

The image has two picture sources: the Chandos portrait (so called because it was once owned by the Dukes of Chandos) and the engraving by Martin Droeshout printed on the title page of the First Folio of Shakespeare's works published in 1623. Neither is necessarily a true likeness and may not have been intended as such. Each tells us that Shakespeare is clever (the large domed forehead), wealthy (white collar or ruff and gold earring) and a gentleman (neatly trimmed facial hair). The features are broadly similar and have generated countless copies used not only in direct connection with Shakespeare but for educational, commercial and promotional purposes, and they have proliferated in popular culture. The image has a life independent of the page and the stage.

The Chandos Portrait - attributed to John Taylor, c1610

The Chandos Portrait

The Chandos Portrait, typical of early seventeenth-century portraiture, has been attributed to John Taylor and dated c1610. Its claims for authenticity rest on the suggestion that it was owned by the playwright and theatre manager Sir William Davenant, born 1606, and who, according to John Aubrey, claimed to be Shakespeare's illegitimate son.

The original was the founding picture in the National Portrait Gallery, a gift of the Earl of Ellesmere in 1856.

The version shown here is a late twentieth-century reproduction by David Martin Designs. You can view the original, plus other images of Shakespeare (including copies of the Holy Trinity monument) and his contemporaries, at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

The Droeshout Engraving, 1623

Droeshout Engraving

There are two possible Martin Droeshouts who may have been the engraver of this portrait. The elder was born in the 1560’s and the younger in 1601. The younger Droeshout would only have been about fifteen when Shakespeare died in 1616 so it's reasonable to conjecture that he would have copied another picture if it was he who made this engraving for the First Folio (which is the name given to the first edition of Shakespeare's Collected Works) of 1623. The elder Droeshout could more plausibly have seen Shakespeare face to face, but it is equally possible that either engraver may have worked from an earlier picture or have been  told what Shakespeare looked like, perhaps by the two men responsible for the Folio, John Heminges and Henry Condell, who worked with Shakespeare in his theatre company. There is still debate about which Droeshout is responsible for the engraving and with new evidence still coming to light the question must remain unresolved for the time being.

The Chesterfield Portrait, 1660s

The Chesterfield Portrait

Probably painted in the 1660s a number of artists have been suggested for the Chesterfield Portrait including Pieter Borseler, Sir Peter Lely, Frederigo Zuccaro and Sir Godfrey Kneller. Reflecting the softer and grander style of full-length Carolean portraiture it is based on the Chandos portrait (note the earring) and was the source for a number of subsequent engravings.

Rowe's Edition, 1709

Rowe's Edition

Nicholas Rowe was the first editor of Shakespeare and the image of Shakespeare at the front of his six-volume edition of 1709 draws on the Chesterfield portrait. It is used as a cameo centrepiece in a baroque composition that is much more like an extravagant eighteenth-century church memorial than the original Jacobean image.

It became common to include a picture of Shakespeare in all editions of his work, often with only minor changes. A similar picture adorns Alexander Pope's 1725 edition of Shakespeare.

Johnson's Edition, 1765

Johnson's Edition

George Vertue's engraving for Samuel Johnson's eight-volume, 1765 Shakespeare narrows the focus, turns Shakespeare's gaze from right to left, excludes the extraneous figures and incorporates Shakespeare's coat of arms. The change of style suggests a greater interest in status and biography.

Humphrey Portrait, 1783

Humphrey Portrait

This crayon copy of the Chandos Portrait was made by Ozias Humphrey in 1783 at the request of Edmund Malone, the Shakespearian editor and scholar who was particularly concerned to dispose of myth and legend. Malone was convinced by the authenticity of the Chandos Portrait and estimated that Shakespeare was about 43 when the original was painted. That would date the Chandos as 1607.

Stockdale's Edition

A simplified setting and greater detail in costume are evident in this image of Shakespeare - claiming to be 'a striking likeness' of the author - used in Stockdale's 1784, one-volume edition of Shakespeare, the first since the seventeenth-century folios. Shakespeare's doublet is clearly the same garment shown in the Johnson edition but a ruff has been substituted for the Chandos-style collar and a beard added.

The edition was intended to 'supply the wants' of 'many of the middling and lower ranks of the inhabitants of this country [who] are either not acquainted with him at all, excepting by name, or have only seen a few of his plays, which have accidentally fallen in their way.'

Oil Miniature

This circular oil painting, based on the Chandos Portrait is undated and unattributed. It hung in the servants' quarters of 11, High Street in Stratford-upon-Avon in the 1920s.

Bottle Labels

The Flower Brewery, founded in 1831 and a major Stratford employer, used a bust of Shakespeare as its distinctive trademark. While the images used for the labels on nineteenth-century bottles of Pale East India Ale and Extra Stout Porter are based on the Chandos portrait, the labels for bottles of India Pale Ale copy the monument to Shakespeare in Holy Trinity Church made by Gheerart Janssen and erected in 1623. While this image has as great a claim to authenticity as Chandos and Droeshout it is reproduced less frequently.

Twenty Pound Note

Perhaps the most widespread proliferation of the image of Shakespeare has been on postage stamps and banknotes, making the playwright common currency.

This Bank of England £20 note was designed by Harry Eccleston, with the portrait of Her Majesty the Queen being engraved by Alan Dow. The front of the note contains an illustration of St George slaying the dragon. The coincidence of date (St George celebrated on 23 April, Shakespeare's birthday celebrated on 23 April) as well as status (national saint and national poet) links the two figures. The reverse of the note features a central vignette of the balcony scene from Romeo and Juliet and a reproduction of the Westminster Abbey memorial statue of 1740, designed by Kent and executed by Peter Scheemakers. The note was first issued in 1970 and the design slightly modified with the addition of new security features in 1983. It was replaced in 1991 with a new note that featured the scientist Faraday.

Picasso/Hockney Drawings

From 1968 Cambridge University Press used a line drawing by Pablo Picasso for the cover of its New Shakespeare paperbacks and this ostentatious modernity was continued in the image that was used from 1989 (replacing a more traditional design of the Elizabethan stage by C. Walter Hodges). Derived from a line drawing by David Hockney the illustration was developed and given its striking almost fluorescent colouring by Paul Oldman. Little more than an intimation of forehead, facial hair and collar is required to make both representations immediately recognisable and to give a determinedly late twentieth-century feel to the editions.
A stylish shopping bag using the Hockney design helped promote the series.

Plastic Bag

The bag used by the retail outlets of the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust features a virtual copy of the Droeshout image, prepared for the 1964 quatercentenary celebrations, and has been immensely popular with tourists. The emphasis is on tradition and history rather than the modern.

Cover Design

The jacket cover of 1999 King of Shadows, by popular children's author Susan Cooper (complete cover design by Random House Design Studio based on an image adopted by Mark Preston, published by Bodley Head) combines the book's hero, Nat Field (a young American actor who is to play Puck at the new Globe), with the Shakespeare that Nat will meet in a time warp experience. The Droeshout engraving of Shakespeare is clearly the source for this combination of the old and new.

Children's Art

Shakespeare's image continues to inspire. These pictures were made by pupils in Year 5 at St. Andrew's V.C. Primary School at Stanstead Abbotts in Hertfordshire. Based on the Droeshout engraving the images are the outcome of a 45 minute whole class activity by a group with previous experience of life drawing in a range of media. The work was generated by the school's summer 2000 Cymbeline project, which included creative writing, art, history, textual study and performance.