"A portrait owned for nearly 300 years by a family will be claimed as the only known picture of William Shakespeare painted during his lifetime. No other image, executed at first hand, is thought to exist of Britain's greatest writer. The claim will be supported by the world's foremost expert on Shakespeare, Stanley Wells, emeritus professor of Shakespeare studies at Birmingham University and general editor of the Oxford Shakespeare series for 30 years. The portrait, which was painted in 1610, six years before the playwright's death, has been in the possession of the Cobbe family since the early 18th century. It was initially kept at a property in Hampshire but more recently in Hatchlands, the family house in Surrey, which is run by the National Trust." - The Australian
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