Template:POTD/2009-04-23
The Cobbe portrait is a 17th century panel painting recently claimed to be of William Shakespeare. Support for this theory is drawn from the inheritance of the portrait by the Cobbe family from Shakespeare's patron, Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, and its resemblance to the Janssen portrait, a long-standing candidate to be a portrait of Shakespeare. Scientific examination has dated the panel and paint used to Shakespeare's lifetime. These claims, however, have been met with considerable skepticism from both Shakespeareans and art experts, some of whom believe that both the Cobbe and Janssen portraits represent Sir Thomas Overbury. The portrait goes on public display for the first time today in Shakespeare's birthplace, Stratford-upon-Avon, England.