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William Shakespeare

Artist and publisher Etched and published by Samuel Ireland British
Sitter William Shakespeare British
1795
Not on view
This etching reproduces a supposed self-portrait sketch by Shakespeare actually created by William Henry Ireland during a famous forgery scandal of the 1790s. Ireland faked a cache of letters, documents, and drafts of plays calculated to shed light on the Bard's life and beliefs, and claimed to have found them in an old trunk. Taken in by his son, Samuel Ireland published "Miscellaneous Papers and Legal Instruments Printed Under the Hand and Seal of William Shakespeare" (1796), using the present image as an illustration. It was said to have been inserted in a letter and there described as a "whysycalle conceyte." The Shakespeare authority Edmond Malone soon debunked Ireland's claims and described the portrait as "most truly whimsical, being a miserable drawing of our poet done by himself with a pen, from Martin Droeshout's print of him engraved seven years after his death" (see 17.3.756-1108 for the latter).

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: William Shakespeare
  • Artist and publisher: Etched and published by Samuel Ireland (British, active from ca. 1760, died London 1800)
  • Sitter: William Shakespeare (British, Stratford-upon-Avon 1564–1616 Stratford-upon-Avon)
  • Date: 1795
  • Medium: Etching
  • Dimensions: Plate: 9 1/4 × 6 11/16 in. (23.5 × 17 cm)
    Sheet: 9 7/16 × 6 11/16 in. (24 × 17 cm)
  • Classification: Prints
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1917
  • Object Number: 17.3.756-2479
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

More Artwork

More Artwork
William Hogarth, Self Portrait, Samuel Ireland British, Etching
William Hogarth, Self Portrait
Etcher Samuel Ireland
After William Hogarth
Sitter William Hogarth
1785
Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal), Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal) Italian, Etching; undivided plate, only state
Imaginary View of Venice, houses at left with figures on terraces, a domed church at center in the background, boats and boat-sheds below, and a seated man observing from a wall at right in the foreground, from "Views" (Vedute altre prese da i luoghi altre ideate da Antonio Canal)
Canaletto (Giovanni Antonio Canal)
Dedicatee Joseph Smith
1741
Satan, Sin and Death (Paradise Lost, Book II), Samuel Ireland British, Etching and engraving
Satan, Sin and Death (Paradise Lost, Book II)
Multiple artists/makers
May 1, 1788
The Genius of Castiglione, Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto) Italian, Etching
The Genius of Castiglione
Giovanni Benedetto Castiglione (Il Grechetto)
Publisher Giovanni Giacomo De Rossi
Dedicatee Matthys van de Merwede, Lord of Clootwyck
ca. 1645–47 (published 1648)
Benefit Ticket for Spiller, Samuel Ireland British, Etching
Benefit Ticket for Spiller
Multiple artists/makers
1788

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