NATIONAL PORTRAIT GALLERY TOUR - London 2015 - page 259

poet, and world's greatest playwright. The shiny, domed forehead is a beacon of intelli-
gence. (I suspect Shakespeare liked this plain-spoken portrait.)
The museum attributes this portrait to a Shakespeare contemporary, John Taylor, and
claims it's the only one that could have been painted during the Bard's lifetime. But other
scholars insist it was done long after the writer's death. Compare this version with the one
you can see in the British Library (see here . ) One recently discovered portrait (not in the
museum) depicts a 46-year-old Shakespeare looking like a matinee idol, with a full head
of hair. The search goes on for the “real” Will.
• Also in Room 4, find the portrait of James I that marks the end of the Elizabethan Age
and the beginning of the...
1600 S —RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL WARS
Catholic kings bickered with an increasingly vocal Protestant Parliament until Civil War
erupted (1642-1651), killing thousands, decapitating the king, and eventually establishing
Parliament as the main power.