Window cleaner Steven Wadlow has spent more than a decade trying to prove he is in possession of a priceless, authentic Shakespeare portrait. His quest is now being told in a Netflix documentary. What is the story behind the find?
Steven, who lives in Aylesbury, Buckinghamshire, said his father, Peter, had bought the painting in the 1960s for £900.
It hung above his television for 40 years, but Steven did not always like the portrait.
“It used to scare me. Wherever you are in the house, it’s looking at you. It always used to remind me of those portraits on Scooby Doo,” he remembered.
He never thought much of it until his father had a visitor – an English and art lecturer – who suspected there was more to the picture.
Peter said the woman originally thought it was a reproduction print.
“She said, ‘That’s quite a nice repro.’ I said, ‘It’s not a repro, it’s genuine.’
“At that stage she took an eye glass out of her handbag and she did say it looked more like Shakespeare than Shakespeare.”
Steven now believes it could be the missing link in the search for a true representation of Shakespeare.
What does the painting show?
The portrait appears to depict a youthful Shakespeare at the age of 31 with hair and no beard – an image not seen in historical depictions of the bard.
A mysterious coat of arms was hidden beneath layers of overpainting, suggesting that the sitter’s identity had been deliberately concealed.
Steven, originally from Tring, Hertfordshire, even turned to facial recognition technology to compare the portrait to other well-known images of the playwright.
The technology revealed the painting was closer to the engraving than any of the other portraits traditionally attributed to Shakespeare.
The portrait underwent rigorous analysis by experts, including specialists in hyperspectral imaging and optical spectroscopy.
Dr John Gilchrist, managing director of ClydeHSI, worked with researchers at University College London and uncovered that the portrait had been altered over time, with features like exaggerated details in the lace added at a later date.
“All I can do is report what we observe in the infrared and these measurements,” Dr Gilchrist explained.
“Whether this is the Bard or not, I can’t validate that. All I can say is that it certainly resembles him.”
What do experts think?
“All the experts, whether technical or art historians, they all agree 100% that it’s genuine to the time of Shakespeare,” said Mr Wadlow.
“The big question is whether it is Shakespeare.”
He said one expert told him that if it were proven to be the prolific playwright, it could be worth “anywhere from £100m to £200m”.
Undeterred by the art establishment, which he said dismissed the idea of a Shakespeare portrait without a beard, Mr Wadlow pressed on.
“It has become a bit of an obsession to prove some people wrong,” he admitted.
A breakthrough came when Lumiere Technology in Paris, which is known for its work with iconic masterpieces like the Mona Lisa, conducted multispectral analysis.
The firm’s chief executive officer, Jean Penicaut, believes Mr Wadlow’s portrait could depict Shakespeare as an actor, possibly even playing one of his own characters.
“The conformity with the mouth… it’s absolutely the same, undoubtedly, just by observation.
“So, for me, really, I agree with the hypothesis that this is a portrait of Shakespeare,” Mr Penicaut said.
Reflecting on the journey, which is told on Netflix in The Stuff of Dreams, Steven admitted that while money was the initial driver, the chase for answers soon took over.
“Of course, one day, somebody is going to want to buy it.
“And if they are – and it goes to the right home, and is displayed to the public – then yeah, I’m looking forward to a day when I can retire with a few pounds,” said Steven.
William Shakespeare in profile
- William Shakespeare was an English playwright, poet and actor
- Shakespeare’s plays include Macbeth, Romeo and Juliet and The Tempest
- Shakespeare was born in Stratford-upon-Avon in 1564 and married Anne Hathaway in 1582. They had three children
- Shakespeare spent most of his professional life with an acting company in London, the Lord Chamberlain’s Men. In 1599, the acting company built the Globe Theatre
- Shakespeare’s plays are still performed all over the world and have inspired many films, ballets, musicals and operas
