Shakespeare: Only portrait created during playwright’s lifetime on sale for £10m

The image was reportedly made by Robert Peake, court painter to King James I, and is signed and dated 1608

William Shakespeare’s only portrait created during his lifetime has gone on sale for more than £10m.

The image, which is said to be the only signed and dated image of the English playwright, is being displayed at the Grosvenor House hotel in west London.

The anonymous owner of the portrait is offering the piece for sale by private treaty without an auction.

The image was reportedly made by Robert Peake, court painter to King James I, and is signed and dated 1608.

Prior to 1975, the picture hung in the library of a stately home in the north of England, once home to the Danby family. Since then it has been in private ownership.

Those behind its sale claim the connections between Shakespeare and Peake are “extensive”.

They say Peake was regularly commissioned to paint the portraits of high-ranking members of the Court and Jacobean society.

They also noted he was commissioned by the Office of the Revels, which oversaw the presentation of plays, and worked in the premises in Clerkenwell, London, where some of Shakespeare’s plays were rehearsed.

Conservator Adrian Phippen (right) and art and antiques writer Duncan Phillipps with a portrait said to be of William Shakespeare by artist Robert Peake (Kirsty O’Connor/PA) (PA Wire)

However, only two paintings of Shakespeare, both posthumous, are generally recognised as valid – the engraving that appears on the title page of the First Folio, published in 1623, and the sculpture at his funeral monument in Stratford-upon-Avon. Shakespeare died in 1616, at the age of 52.

Art expert Duncan Phillips, who investigated the work ahead of the sale, said: “There is more evidence for this portrait of Shakespeare than any other known painting of the playwright.

“It is a monogrammed and dated work by a portrait painter of serious status with connections to the artist who produced the image for the First Folio.

“The picture has survived the past 400 years almost untouched by wear and tear thanks to its ownership by a family of Shakespeare enthusiasts who hung it in their library.”

Additional reporting by agencies