exists. There is a great resemblance between this face from the
Stratford monument and the portrait published in the first folio of
Shakspeare’s works, by the actors, in 1623. No. 407A is from a very
remarkable terracotta bust, in the possession of Professor Owen, of
the College of Surgeons. It was discovered in pulling down the old
Duke’s Theatre in Lincoln’s Inn Fields, where it was placed over one
of the stage-doors, the bust of Ben Jonson (accidentally destroyed by
the workmen) occupying a corresponding place over the other door.
Shakspeare having been rescued by the timely interposition of Mr.
Clift, Professor Owen’s father-in-law, the bust became that
gentleman’s property, and by him it was given to its present owner.
There are two types of the Shakspeare portrait: the “round-faced,” as
seen in the monument of Stratford-on-Avon, and the “oval-faced” of
Cornelius Jansen. Roubilliac’s bust, and that in the possession of
Professor Owen, are after Jansen. No. 407B is the bust by Roubilliac.
The statues by Roubilliac and John Bell (see Handbook of Modern
Sculpture, Nos. 56 and 9) are conventional, and represent the two
types.]
407A.}
} WILLIAM SHAKSPEARE. _Poet._
407B.}