VI. THE NEWLY-DISCOVERED PORTRAIT, AT STRATFORD-ON-AVON. Ar about the time when the great Collier controversy had excited everybody's attention, and its culmination had drawn out that Shakspeare-love which lies very deeply in all our hearts, and perhaps most deeply in the hearts of those who least profess it, the literary and artistic world was astonished by the news that a fresh, new, and original portrait of the great poet, in his habit as he lived, had been discovered at Stratford-on-Avon, his native place. This portrait was, by chance almost, put into the hands of Mr. Collins, a well-known restorer of pictures in Bond Street, towards the end of the year 1860, or the beginning of 1861. The face was then covered with hair, having a large beard, and being otherwise disfigured; but Mr. Collins strongly suspected that underneath the paint another picture lay perdu. He therefore removed the covering, part of it in the presence of many witnesses, and discovered what was at once, by many of those present, pronounced to be an admirable portrait of Shakspeare. Mr. Hunt, the owner of the picture, Mr. Hobbs, the Rev. Mr. Granville, Vicar of Stratford, and others, saw this restoration, and were of opinion that more amateurs and experts should criticise it freely. Mr. Charles Wright, a Shakspearian scholar of no mean attainments, went to Stratford to see it, and advised at once its deportation to London, and that it should there be examined. Mr. Collins, it would appear, was at first unwilling that it should leave his hands, but after some consultation its exhibition was agreed on, and it was exhibited at Mr. Collins's, at Somerset Street, Portman Square; and the following announcement was given to those who came to view the picture : PORTRAIT OF SHAKSPEARE. A Portrait of Shakspeare, painted on canvas, three quarter, life size, which has been in the family of W. O. Hunt, Esq., Town Clerk of Stratford-upon-Avon, for a century, has recently been put into the hands of Mr. Simon Collins, of 6, Somerset Street, Portman Square, London, (now on a visit to Stratford) who after removing the dirt, damp, and repaint, by which it was obscured, has brought to light what he pronounces to be a genuine Portrait of the immortal Bard. The Picture bears a remarkable resemblance to the Bust in the Chancel of Stratford Church, according to the description given of it before it was painted white, at the request of Mr. Malone in 1793, viz.: "the eyes being of a light hazel, and the hair and beard auburn, the dress consisted of a scarlet doublet, over which was a loose black gown without sleeves." It is important to observe that this is the only Picture ever discovered which thus represents the Poet in this dress, and it calls to mind a remark made by Mr. Wheler in his "History of Stratford-upon-Avon" of the probability of a Picture being in existence from which the monumental Bust was taken; which suggestion Mr. Wivell in his Inquiry into the History and Antiquities of the Shakspeare Portraits quotes, and appears to adopt. |