Historian Mark Griffiths claims that he managed to find the image of the famous playwright on the cover of a book on botany, while the editor of a magazine claims that it is "the literary discovery of the century".
He is a handsome man dressed in a toga, crowned with a laurel wreath and with a beard and moustache. He holds corn in one hand and a lily in the other. But is that really the face of William Shakespeare?
Botanist and historian Mark Griffiths claims that it is without a doubt the only authentic portrait of Shakespeare done while he was still alive. The over 400-year-old book features engravings on the cover where four figures can be clearly seen, one of which is a 33-year-old bard who appears very different from the bald, round-faced man we know from the "First Folio" of his collected works.
So far, the only known authentic depictions of Shakespeare come from the "First Folio" and the print on his monument in Holy Trinity Church, Stratford-upon-Avon. They were made posthumously. Griffiths says he developed the theory five years ago, but has been secretly trying to disprove it ever since. The publication of his theory goes to the soul of the editor of the magazine "Country Life", Mark Hedges, who says that it is a "literary discovery of the century".
"This is the only portrait of the world's greatest writer created during his lifetime that can be proven. It is an absolutely incredible discovery; until today, no one knew what William Shakespeare looked like," Hedges said.
Griffiths claims that this is the face of Shakespeare, drawn at the height of his fame, shortly after he wrote A Midsummer Night's Dream and just before Hamlet.
The work of William Rogers, the first great exponent of copper engraving, is on the cover of the revolutionary 1598 book, "The Herbarium and General History of Plants" written by horticulturist John Gerrard. The cover is full of lavish decorations, flowers and symbols surrounding four male figures, which are generally considered allegorical. By researching the character and work of Gerrard, Griffiths set out to discover who these men might be. To do this he had to solve basic Tudor riddles, ciphers and heraldic motifs, all of which together indicate the identities of the men. He found out relatively easily which of them was Gerard himself, then he also found the famous Flemish botanist Rembert Dodoen and the chief minister and close adviser of Queen Elizabeth, Lord Burley.
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