The Ashbourne Portrait is one of the numberless portraits that have been falsely identified as portrayals of William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare

William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...

. At least 60 such works had been offered for sale to the National Portrait Gallery in the 19th century within the first forty years of its existence; the Ashbourne portrait was one of these.

The identity of the artist is unknown. At some point the portrait was altered to cater to public demand for more pictures of the bard

Bardolatry

Bardolatry is a term that refers to the excessive adulation of William Shakespeare, a portmanteau of "bard" and "idolatry." Shakespeare has been known as "the Bard" since the nineteenth century. One who idolizes Shakespeare is known as a Bardolater....

 and to conform to 19th century ideas of Shakespeare. The hair over the forehead was scraped out and painted over to create a bald patch. It was also lengthened at the back, an appearance associated with Shakespeare. The date was also altered to fit Shakespeare's age. The coat of arms was painted over. In this form the painting bore the date 1611 and purported to show Shakespeare at the age of 47.

In 1940, Charles Wisner Barrell

Charles Wisner Barrell

Charles Wisner Barrell was an American film maker and supporter of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship....

 argued on the basis of x-ray evidence that the portrait originally depicted Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts, and is currently the most popular alternative candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's works....

 and that this was evidence that Oxford was the true author of Shakespeare's plays. In 1979 the coat of arms was rediscovered following restoration. It was identified as that of Hugh Hamersley

Hugh Hamersley

Sir Hugh Hamersley was a 17th century merchant who was Lord Mayor of London in 1627.-Business interests:...

 (1565-1636), Lord Mayor of London in 1627.

History

It was first brought to light by Clement Usill Kingston in the 1840s. It was subsequently reproduced in mezzotint

Mezzotint

Mezzotint is a printmaking process of the intaglio family, technically a drypoint method. It was the first tonal method to be used, enabling half-tones to be produced without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple...

 by G.F. Storm. In this form it was widely reproduced during the 19th century, having entered the canon of Shakespeare portraits

Portraits of Shakespeare

Within four decades of its foundation in 1856, upwards of 60 portraits were offered for sale to the National Portrait Gallery purporting to be of William Shakespeare, but there are only two definitively accepted as portraying him, both of which are posthumous...

.

In 1910 M.H. Spielmann

Marion Spielmann

Marion Harry Alexander Spielmann was a prolific Victorian art critic and scholar who was the editor of The Connoisseur and Magazine of Art...

 devoted two articles to a critical analysis of the portrait, with regard to provenance, attribution and identification and concluded that the aristocratic nature of the portrait did not conform to Shakespeare's status as a playwright, and that the painting's historical subject was a mystery.

The painting was auctioned at Sotheby's

Sotheby's

Sotheby's is the world's fourth oldest auction house in continuous operation.-History:The oldest auction house in operation is the Stockholms Auktionsverk founded in 1674, the second oldest is Göteborgs Auktionsverk founded in 1681 and third oldest being founded in 1731, all Swedish...

 in 1928, and sold for £1,000 ($5,000) to Eustace Conway, an American lawyer, who in turn sold it to Henry Clay Folger

Henry Clay Folger

Henry Clay Folger was president and later chairman of Standard Oil of New York, a collector of Shakespeareana, and founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library.-Early life:...

's widow, Emily Jordan Folger

Emily Jordan Folger

Emily Jordan Folger, born Emily Clara Jordan , was the wife of Henry Clay Folger and the co-founder of the Folger Shakespeare Library. During her husband's lifetime, she assisted him in building the world's largest collection of Shakespeare materials...

 in 1931, for the sum of $3,500, as a gift to the Folger Shakespeare Library

Folger Shakespeare Library

The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period...

, which opened the following year.

In 1932, the writer Percy Allen argued that the painting originally depicted Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford

Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was an Elizabethan courtier, playwright, lyric poet, sportsman and patron of the arts, and is currently the most popular alternative candidate proposed for the authorship of Shakespeare's works....

, but had been later retouched. In 1940, Charles Wisner Barrell

Charles Wisner Barrell

Charles Wisner Barrell was an American film maker and supporter of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship....

 investigated the portrait using X-rays and concurred with Allen's view. Art historian

History of art

The History of art refers to visual art which may be defined as any activity or product made by humans in a visual form for aesthetical or communicative purposes, expressing ideas, emotions or, in general, a worldview...

 William Pressly, who catalogued the Folger's paintings, and directed the 1988 restoration of the work, states that the controversy surrounding the sitter's identity was resolved in 1979, when restorative work on the painting revealed conclusively that it had been begun as a portrait of Sir Hugh Hamersley

Hugh Hamersley

Sir Hugh Hamersley was a 17th century merchant who was Lord Mayor of London in 1627.-Business interests:...

. The Folger Library dates the painting to 1612, and while stating that most researchers identify the painting's subject as Sir Hugh Hamersley, notes that some Oxfordians contend it depicts Edward de Vere. It currently hangs in the Folger Shakespeare Library

Folger Shakespeare Library

The Folger Shakespeare Library is an independent research library on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., in the United States. It has the world's largest collection of the printed works of William Shakespeare, and is a primary repository for rare materials from the early modern period...

.

Allen and Barrell's theories

In 1932, Percy Allen

Percy Allen (writer)

Percy Allen was an English journalist, writer and lecturer most notable for his advocacy of the Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship, and particularly for his creation of Prince Tudor theory, which claimed that the Earl of Oxford fathered a child with Queen Elizabeth I.-Early writings:Allen...

 published The Life Story of Edward de Vere as "William Shakespeare". Allen was a supporter of J. Thomas Looney

J. Thomas Looney

John Thomas Looney . was an English school teacher who is best known for having originated the Oxfordian theory, which claims that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford was the true author of Shakespeare's plays.-Life:Looney was born in South Shields...

's theory that the works of Shakespeare were written by de Vere, the 17th Earl of Oxford. He argued that the features of the man in the Ashbourne portrait corresponded to those of de Vere and that the costume suggested a date earlier than 1611. He believed that the portrait dated from 1597, but had later been retouched as part of "an elaborate plot".

In 1940, Charles Wisner Barrell, a former director of Motion Pictures

Film

A film, also called a movie or motion picture, is a series of still or moving images. It is produced by recording photographic images with cameras, or by creating images using animation techniques or visual effects...

 for the Western Electric Company

Western Electric

Western Electric Company was an American electrical engineering company, the manufacturing arm of AT&T from 1881 to 1995. It was the scene of a number of technological innovations and also some seminal developments in industrial management...

, an American follower of Looney's and Allen's views, examined the portrait using X-ray

X-ray

X-radiation is a form of electromagnetic radiation. X-rays have a wavelength in the range of 0.01 to 10 nanometers, corresponding to frequencies in the range 30 petahertz to 30 exahertz and energies in the range 120 eV to 120 keV. They are shorter in wavelength than UV rays and longer than gamma...

 and infra-red photography, and proved what Spielmann had suspected, namely that the painting had indeed been tampered with. He supported Allen's conclusion that the painting was a retouched portrait of Edward de Vere. On the basis of what was taken to be the artist's monogram, C.K., beneath a coat of arms, he concluded that the portrait was the work of Cornelius Ketel, who had been active in England and had reportedly done one of Oxford's portraits. He also suggested that the coat of arms belonged to Oxford's wife, Elizabeth Trentham

Elizabeth Trentham, Countess of Oxford

Elizabeth de Vere, Countess of Oxford, formerly Elizabeth Trentham , was the second wife of the Elizabethan courtier and poet Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford.-Family and early years:...

. Ketel had in fact been commissioned in 1577 to paint a series of 19 portraits for the Cathay Company

Martin Frobisher

Sir Martin Frobisher was an English seaman who made three voyages to the New World to look for the Northwest Passage...

, in which Oxford had invested and lost a large sum of money.

Barrell's identification received wide exposure, and caused a sensation. Barrell believed he had proven that there was literally a cover-up, a conspiracy to conceal the identity of the Edward de Vere he believed to be the real author of Shakespeare's works. In 1945 Percy Allen consulted the psychic Hester Dowden

Hester Dowden

Hester Dowden , or Hester Travers Smith, was an Irish spiritualist medium who is most notable for having claimed to contact the spirits of Oscar Wilde, William Shakespeare and other writers. Dowden's spirit-communications were published by various authors...

, who communicated with the spirit of Oxford. Oxford confirmed that "it is a portrait of me; you are right; it bears my wife's blazon". He could not recall the name of the artist but he was "a fashion at the time".

In late 1948/early 1949 a further series of X rays was made at the National Gallery of Art

National Gallery of Art

The National Gallery of Art and its Sculpture Garden is a national art museum, located on the National Mall between 3rd and 9th Streets at Constitution Avenue NW, in Washington, DC...

 by Stephen S. Pichetto. These failed to reveal a "C. K." beneath the coat of arms. It is conjectured that if they were there, they probably stood for "Clement Kingston", the original owner who profited from the "discovery" of a new portrait ostensibly depicting Shakespeare. In 1948 Barrell sued Giles E. Dawson, the curator of Books and Manuscripts for the Folger Shakespeare Library in Washington, D.C for suggesting in a letter that Barrell had doctored his x-ray pictures. Though he had promised to supply the Folger library with copies of the photographs he had commissioned, he never did so, and their present whereabouts are unknown. Folger director Joseph Quincy Adams, according to Dawson, also believed Barrell had tampered with his evidence. The suit was dismissed in 1950.

1979 restoration

In 1979, the Folger commissioned Peter Michaels to restore the portrait. In removing the overpaint, he uncovered the coat of arms, and his assistant Lisa Oehrl made a sketch of it, unaware of the sitter's identity. It was Lilly Lievsay, Folger cataloguer of manuscripts, and Folger curator Laetitia Yeandle who, on the basis of this drawing, linked the image of the sketch conclusively to the armorial coat of Hamersley. The restorative work also clarified the date, which had been tampered with to yield the year 1611 (when Shakespeare was 47). Beneath the second 1 of that date a 2 is clearly visible, indicating it was executed in 1612, 8 years after Oxford's death when Hamersley was 47 years old. Above the date is written aetatis suae.47 (aged 47). He had not, at that time, been granted his coat of arms, and art historian William Pressly conjectures that they were either included in anticipation of the honour, or painted in later.

The original alterations to the Hamersley painting, to make it look like what people would expect of a portrait of Shakespeare, is thought to be the handiwork of Clement Kingston, who was also a painter. Some Oxfordians

Oxfordian theory of Shakespeare authorship

The Oxfordian theory of Shakespearean authorship proposes that Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford , wrote the plays and poems traditionally attributed to William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon. While a large majority of scholars reject all alternative candidates for authorship, popular...

, though disappointed, quickly accepted the results, and claimed partial credit for the new findings.

The identity of the sitter is, however, still believed to be de Vere by some Oxfordians. In this regard, in 2002, the New York Times reported a claim by painter and Oxfordian Barbara Burris "that the fashions the sitter wears in the painting date to about 1580, when Hamersley would have been 15 and Oxford 30, and when Ketel [who returned to Holland in 1581] was working in England."