TRUE FACE OF WILLIAM SHAKESPEARE; TRANS. BY ALAN BANCE

By Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel

Subjects: Biography, English Authors, Death mask, Portraits

Description: What the Bard Truly Looked Like In this ground breaking study, Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel offers a convincing solution to the centuries-old question of what William Shakespeare really looked like and also of what appears to have caused his death. Professor Hammerschmidt-Hummel is the first scholar to apply state of the art forensic techniques to the study of Shakespeare’s portraits and the publication of her findings is a major addition to our understanding of this iconic poet and playwright. By combining exhaustive academic research with the latest technology and collaborating over many years with specialists from the most varied disciplines - including forensic experts from the German Federal Bureau of Criminal Investigation (BKA=CID), Professors of Medicine, 3D imaging engineers, archivists and an expert on old masters - Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel has proved the authenticity of the Chandos portrait, the Darmstadt death mask and the Flower portrait (recently incorrectly dismissed as a ‘fake’ by the National Portrait Gallery, as shown by the author's new evidence). This revolutionary research has also authenticated another true face of Shakespeare - the Davenant bust. This haunting sculpture has resided in the Garrick Club since 1855 and was thought to be the work of an eighteenth century sculptor. The author’s original research has succeeded in tracing its provenance to the early 17th century. By tracing the development of certain signs of illness in each of the images, first noticed by Hildegard Hammerschmidt-Hummel, the author’s medical experts have identified and verified the most probable cause of Shakespeare’s death. The conspicuous growth on the upper left eyelid, they interpreted as Mikulicz Syndrome (a probably cancerous abnormality of the tear glands), the swelling in the nasal corner of the left eye as a fine caruncular tumour, and the considerable swelling on the forehead (in conjunction with the other pathological symptoms) as systemic sarcoidosis, an inner disease that affects the organs and takes a very protracted course, but proves to be fatal.