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The picture, of a young, bearded man wearing a Roman-style
laurel crown and holding an ear of sweetcorn , was identified by
botanist and historian Mark Griffiths and will be published in
Country Life on Wednesday.
Until now, the only accepted authentic likenesses of
Shakespeare, in which he is depicted as bald, have been found in
the First Folio of his works and his monument at Holy Trinity
Church, Stratford-upon-Avon, both created posthumously.
Speaking on the magazine website, Griffiths said the discovery
had come when he began researching the biography of pioneering
botanist John Gerard (1545-1612), author of The Herball or
Generall Historie of Plantes, published in 1598.
"I began to look at the title page engravings ... and realised
it was full of allusions to people who had been involved in the
creation of the book and that four of the figures on the title
page were in fact real persons," he said.
Three were Gerard himself, Flemish botanist Rembert Dodoens and
Queen Elizabeth's Lord Treasurer, Lord Burghley, Griffiths said.
The plants and motifs surrounding them in the engraving appeared
to be elaborate Tudor references to the men themselves.
"And then there was a fourth figure who was dressed as a Roman
and appeared to have something to do with poetry," he added.
Griffiths also discovered a cipher underneath the cover image
containing clues about the fourth man.
"As I worked hard on this fourth figure, I realised it had to be
William Shakespeare," he said.
Griffiths believes that in the engraving the Shakespeare figure
is aged 33 and at the height of his celebrity – after writing "A
Midsummer Night’s Dream" and shortly before "Hamlet."
He believes Shakespeare was given his literary start by Burghley
and that he became almost a propagandist for him.
Previous claims of discoveries of portraits of Shakespeare
created during his lifetime have been generally disbelieved by
scholars.
But Country Life editor Mark Hedges was in no doubt. He said in
a statement: "We have a new portrait of Shakespeare, the first
ever that is identified as him by the artist and made in his
lifetime."
(Reporting by Stephen Addison; Editing by Dominic Evans)
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