The Chandos portrait, popularly believed to depict
William Shakespeare (in a 20th century reproduction)
The "Chandos" portrait is one of the most famous portraits believed to depict William Shakespeare (1564–1616). The portrait is named for James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos, who owned the portrait. The portrait has been in the National Portrait Gallery, London since 1856.
It has not been possible to solve the question of who painted the portrait and whether it really depicts Shakespeare, whose other known contemporary image is the crude engraving in the posthumous First Folio (1623), made by Martin Droeshout, who had never seen Shakespeare and was likely working from a portrait that is now lost. Some claim that Shakespeare's friend Richard Burbage (1567–1619) painted it and later gave it to Joseph Taylor , also a member of King's Men, but there is also the possibility that Taylor painted it himself.
It is known that before the Duke of Chandos acquired it, the portrait was owned by Shakespeare's godson, William Davenant (1606–1668), who claimed to be the playwright's illegitimate son, according to the gossip chronicler John Aubrey.
The Chandos portrait inspired a grander, more embellished mid-17th century imaginary portrait, called the "Chesterfield portrait" from a former owner.
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