Michael Delahoyde
Washington State University
This is the engraving on the title page of the First Folio, done by
Martin Droeshout, an artist who was 15 years old when William Shakspere
died. The poem facing this page in the Folio, by Ben Jonson, instructs us:
"Reader, looke / Not on his Picture, but his Booke."
Oddities include: the general plainness and lack of embellishment in the
portrait, unlike most title pages of the period for productions of the
caliber of this Folio; the strange disengagement of the head from the
body; the right front of the doublet depicting what should be the left
rear of the doublet; what some have determined are two right eyes; a
chaos of shadowing and goofy perspective; and the peculiar line running
from the left ear to the chin, designating no such anatomical line but
suggesting a mask.
For much much more concerning imbedded clues in this so-called "portrait,"
watch William Ray's Vimeo Presentation.
