http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/europe/03/09/william.shakespeare.portrait/index.html CNN’s got the Cobbe portrait up, for the curious. It definitely looks similar to the other portraits we already have, but different enough to be an interesting addition. He seems pretty young in this one (odd, if it was really painted in 1610 near his death) – full head of hair, light colored beard and mustache. What sticks out like a sore thumb (to me) is the lace doily wrapped around his neck, it looks like something under the lamp on my nightstand. People really wore that? Bleh. UPDATE : Watching Twitter today, it seems that “He’s a fox” outweighs “He’s not that attractive” by a good margin. Also smatterings of “Looks the same as all the other pictures” and the occasional “Hey [random friend], he looks like you!” Curiosity from folks who seem to think that he was a poor commoner his whole life.
Looks more like Fulke Greville or a young Edward de Vere. Is this a picture of a commoner? I don’t think so.