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"Flower portrait", the portrait of William Shakespeare, is a fake. |
The art experts who work at the gallery say the image - commonly known as the "Flower portrait" - was actually painted in the 1800s, not while the Bard was alive. They also found traces of chrome yellow paint dating from about 1814 embedded deep in the picture.
Shakespeare died in 1616, and the date that appears on the portrait is 1609.
The picture has often been used as a cover for collections of his plays. It is called the Flower portrait because one of its owners, Desmond Flower, gave it to the Royal Shakespeare Company.
The discovery is the result of four months' worth of testing that involved X-rays, ultraviolet light, microphotography and paint samples.
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