The Real Eyes of William, I Hope.

Soest's portrait of Shakespeare


I am looking forward to going to the Warehouse Theatre this week for a viewing of the "Scottish Play", so I have Mr. Shakespeare on my mind. It appears to me that every portrait of Shakespeare is different; he doesn't really look like the same man in any of them. I only recently discovered this portrait of him by the Dutch painter, Gerard Soest. What I love about this painting is the Dutch style realism of the eyes and mouth. So many of Shakespeare's portraits have the exaggerated large rounded eyes and prim mouths which were popular in 17th century English paintings-I guess our equivalent would be botoxed foreheads and veneered teeth. He looks mature here, but hasn't reached the days where he is a little portly and completely bald. He looks real and he looks like a man who knows something he's not telling, even though he is dying to tell. He looks like a man who is a little tired from writing late-night sonnets to the Fair Gentleman and the Dark Lady and I like it very much.
And then, with great disappointment, I learn that this portrait of Shakespeare was probably painted 30 years after his death. It is even rumored be a portrait of another man who resembled Shakespeare, or more likely, to be the artist's copy of the recently discovered Chandos portrait. Soest was never a popular painter in the fashionable circles of his time...maybe because he preferred to present his subjects as they really were. Maybe Shakespeare allowed the very young, up and coming Soest to do a portrait and then dismissed it due to its unfashionable realism. Later, in middle age, the Soest decides it's time to show his stuff after the Bard is no longer around to express his displeasure, so after a few touch ups, presents his most famous client. Not that likely, but I still like it and hope that maybe the more realistic Dutch painter saw the real eyes and wanted to leave a more accurate representation of the man.