Which portrait is your favorite? It seems like Droeshout and Chandos always get the love, but there are quite a few more contenders : Cobbe, Flowers, Sanders?
Well, the Sanders portrait is changing ownership.
The portrait – an oil on two joined oak panels named after its likely creator, John Sanders (1559-1643), Mr. Sullivan’s great grandfather 13 generations removed and a Shakespeare associate in London – was first brought to international attention by The Globe and Mail’s Stephanie Nolen in a front-page story in May, 2001.
Mr. Sullivan, who inherited the portrait in the early 1970s from his dying mother in Montreal, began to try to confirm its authenticity in the early 1990s and to date has spent more than $1-million in the effort.
Anybody on the “Sanders is the only portrait painted from life” side? Other than the guy with the direct family connection, who is not shy about talking up how important it is for Canada to have a Shakespeare portrait, what’s the “mounting evidence” they mention in the article?
For more background on this particular portrait, see: Shakespeare's Face by Stephanie Long
The painting seems authentic and contemporary with Shakespeare. However the provenance is a little iffy. I recall reading the 2002 hardback edition and thinking it was likely authentic. However the fact it turned up belonging to the author's neighbor, seemed a little too coincidental. Not sure what has been revealed since then There is an interesting article in The Toronto Globe and Mail
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/arts/ottawa-portrait-owner-is-the-bards-kin/article4210859/