Powerful bust of Shakespeare proves to be genuine

German Shakespeare scholar authenticates an image
of Shakespeare from the poet’s lifetime

(Mainz, 14. Oktober 2005) A bust of the playwright William Shakespeare (1564-1616), privately owned in England and previously not believed to be authentic, in fact reproduces his features in such precise detail and so true to life that it could only have been produced by an artist for whom the poet sat personally.

This conclusion is the outcome of many years of research, supported by the German Research Council (Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft), in a project led by the German Shakespeare scholar Professor Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel (University of Mainz). It involved expertise from many fields, among them the forensic identification technology of the German Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BKA), medicine, physics and 3-D virtual imaging technology, as well as archivists and an art expert. Especially important were expert medical reports on realistically depicted symptoms of disease, and their comparison with corresponding signs in other authentic images of Shakespeare.

Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel’s new book, The True Face of William Shakespeare: The Poet’s Death Mask and Likenesses from Three Periods of His Life, will appear in 2006, setting out her research methods and the step-by-step amassing of the evidence that conclusively proves the authenticity of the bust.
The Mainz Shakespeare scholar has also discovered new sources which unravel the mystery of the circumstances under which the bust came to light in the early 19th century and trace the history of the sculpture back to its origins in the poet’s own lifetime.

A reproduction of this powerful ‘new’ image of Shakespeare will make its first appearance on the cover of the author’s revised and updated Shakespeare biography (The Life & Times of William Shakespeare 1564-1616) to be published for the first time in the English language by Chaucer Press, London, in 2006. “This exceptional likeness of the poet and Hammerschmidt-Hummel’s new findings concerning his times, life and literary career will fundamentally change our concept of Shakespeare as a human being and as a writer,” says Professor Wolfgang Speyer (University of Salzburg), art expert on old masters at the Dorotheum, Salzburg.

Hammerschmidt-Hummel’s forthcoming book on Shakespeare’s true face has numerous illustrations of the sculpture, which were used for various scientific tests and medical inspections. It will contain extensive new research results concerning the Darmstadt death mask and the Chandos and Flower portraits, images of the poet that are already acknowledged to be geniune as a result of earlier research by Professor Hammerschmidt-Hummel. In 1995 she succeeded in proving their authenticity with the help of experts from the BKA and medical specialists. Like her Shakespeare biography, her new book demonstrates beyond doubt that none other than William Shakespeare of Stratford-upon-Avon created the famous plays.

Hammerschmidt-Hummel’s major publications include the study Das Geheimnis um Shakespeares ‘Dark Lady’ (The Secret of Shakespeare’s ‘Dark Lady’) 1999, in which she identified the mistress of Shakespeare’s sonnets; Die verborgene Existenz des William Shakespeare (The Hidden Life of William Shakespeare) 2001, which resolved the question of Shakespeare’s religion; the three-volume work that appeared in 2003, Die Shakespeare-Illustration (1594–2000). Bildkünstlerische Darstellungen zu den Dramen William Shakespeares (Shakespearian Illustrations [1594–2000]: The Work of Artists on Shakespeare’s Plays), containing more than 3000 illustrations; and the earlier German version of her Shakespeare biography, William Shakespeare. Seine Zeit – Sein Leben – Sein Werk (2003), which draws heavily on new historical and pictorial sources she has brought to light.

Kontakt und Informationen:
Univ.-Prof. Dr. Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel
Johannes Gutenberg-Universität Mainz
Fachbereich Philosophie und Philologie
Forschungs- und Lehrbereich British Studies
Tel. +49 (0) 611 521989 oder 0170 9668036
E-Mail: h.hammerschmidt-hummel@t-online.de
http://www.hammerschmidt-hummel.de