Update on National Portrait Gallery scientific research on Shakespeare Portraits

As a result of a major collaboration between the National Portrait Gallery and the BBC, The Culture Show has been given unique access to the scientific analysis commissioned by the Gallery on three portraits of William Shakespeare. The Culture Show showed on Thursday 21 April the first of three films on the portraits which will be exhibited for the first time together in one of the Gallery's 150th anniversary exhibitions Searching for Shakespeare (2 March - 29 May 2006).

Viewers to the programme were able to watch a team of curators, conservators and scientists undertake a series of tests on the portrait including x-rays, ultra-violet examination, macro and micro photography and the examination of microscopic paint samples. The Flower portrait belonging to the Royal Shakespeare Company is one of the key objects that will come to the National Portrait Gallery for the forthcoming exhibition next March. The critical test proved to be paint sampling which showed that most of the portrait was painted with pigments from around Shakespeare's lifetime, yet the golden braid of the doublet was painted with a pigment only available in the early 19th century, called chrome yellow. When the pigment sample was seen under the microscope it was evident that these particles were well integrated into the paint layers, and thus it can be categorically stated that Flower portrait of Shakespeare is a nineteenth century painting. The National Portrait Gallery is undertaking investigation into two other paintings in preparation for the exhibition; the Chandos portrait presented to the Gallery in 1856 and the 'Grafton' portrait owned by the John Rylands Library, University of Manchester. The results of this research will be published in an illustrated exhibition catalogue to be published in March 2006. Further programmes relating to the investigations and the exhibition will be shown in the autumn and just prior to the opening exhibition next year.

Notes to Editors
National Portrait Gallery opening hours
Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Saturday, Sunday: 10am - 6pm
(Gallery closure commences at 5.50pm)
Late Opening: Thursday, Friday: 10am - 9pm
(Gallery closure commences at 8.50pm)
Recorded information: 020 7312 2463
General information: 020 7306 0055
Website: www.npg.org.uk

For further press information please contact: Neil Evans, Acting Press Officer, National Portrait Gallery, Tel 020 7312 2452 (not for publication) Email nevans@npg.org.uk

Further information on:
SEARCHING FOR SHAKESPEARE

2 March - 29 May 2006

In 1856 the first portrait presented to the newly-founded National Portrait Gallery was a compelling painting considered to be of William Shakespeare, known as the "Chandos" portrait. At this date Shakespeare's appearance had been a matter of national interest for around two centuries. Yet the identity of this picture is still considered unproven and today we have no certain lifetime portrait of England's most famous poet and playwright. On the occasion of the National Portrait Gallery's 150th anniversary in 2006, an exhibition on the biography and portraiture will be staged at the Gallery. Alongside the Chandos portrait, five other "contender" portraits purporting to represent Shakespeare will be displayed together for the first time. The exhibition will present the results of new technical analysis and research on several of these pictures casting new light on the search for Shakespeare's authentic appearance. Shakespeare's life can only be partially reconstructed, but this exhibition will also attempt to search for the Shakespeare his contemporaries knew by looking closely at his own circle. The exhibition will bring together original documents relating to Shakespeare's life and portraits of his contemporaries including actors, patrons and other playwrights, in order to place the poet not in our historical imagination, but within his own time.

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All images and text are subject to copyright protection. 22 May 2008