c. Briefe an den Herausgeber / Letters to the Editor

Letter to the Editor of 'The Sunday Times' (12 March 2009) by Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel

The ‘New’ Shakespeare Portrait

SIR - The Cobbe portrait of Shakespeare now presented by Alec Cobbe and Professor Stanley Wells as the only authentic image of the playwright made in his lifetime (Richard Brooks, „Is this the real Shakespeare at last?", Sunday Times, March 8, 2009) was tested by forensic methods such as x-ray analysis and computer imaging. I would like to remind readers that my pioneering book The True Face of William Shakespeare appeared in 2006 after ten years of research, and it revealed that four authentic likenesses of Shakespeare exist. I would like to remind readers also that Steve Connor presented my early findings in his article „Germans put a face to Shakespeare" (Sunday Times, March 15, 1998). The many experts I consulted included the German equivalent of the FBI, who used their computer imaging techniques to establish identity. My findings have never been refuted by the kind of rigorous scholarly standards we would normally expect in academic discourse. The same applies to the progressive signs of illness, attested by four professors of medicine, to be seen in these images of Shakespeare. I ask only for serious scrutiny and discussion of my research results.

Professor HILDEGARD HAMMERSCHMIDT-HUMMEL

University of Mainz, Germany


Letter to the Editor of 'The Sunday Times' (13 March 2009) by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach

The article by Richard Brooks (Is this the real Shakespeare at last?) is full of truly astonishing assertions, beginning with the fact that Alec Cobbe, though an art restorer, didn't note any resemblance of the portrait (which had been in the family for 300 years!) to the Janssen portrait until visiting the 2006 NPG exhibit. Then, I read that, if the portrait is of Shakespeare, it would be the first such proven. But, a leading German Shakespeare expert has demonstrated the authenticity of four (!) works and she found out that the Janssen portrait was most probably also a genuine likeness of Shakespeare (Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel, "The True Face of William Shakespeare. The Poet's Death Mask and Likenesses from Three Periods of His Life", 2006); this was the result of a ten-year project which involved experts from several disciplines, using the most modern investigative tools. If such research is faulty, I would expect critics to refute the findings scientifically. among them the Janssen portrait.

Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, Mainz-Kastell, Germany


Have your say: Comment by Muriel Mirak-Weissbach on article "Is this the real Shakespeare at last?" by Richard Brooks, Arts Editor, Sunday Times [Times Online], March 8, 2009

"H. Hammerschmidt-Hummel, with others, proved the authenticity of 4 likenesses ('The True Face of William Shakespeare. The Poet's Death Mask and Likenesses from Three Period of His Life,' 2006), with the Janssen portrait in an appendix. If her work is faulty, critics should refute it scientifically."

Muriel Mirak-Weissbach, Mainz-Kastell, Germany