You may have had a love-hate relationship with William Shakespeare and his work in school, but at least now you have a face to pin it on.
An English magazine called Country Life has claimed to have found the only portrait of the author in the strangest place - a botany book.
Shakespeare comes off as a good-looking man with a beard and a hipster moustache, holding an ear of corn in one hand and a fritillary in another. A picture on the front page of The Herball a 16th century book on plants by John Gerard led botanist and historian Mark Griffiths to the discovery.
Griffiths is a regular contributor to the magazine and has revealed that he cracked a complex Tudor code to reveal the only known portrait of the Bard of Avon. Until now, the only known likenesses of Shakespeare were found in the First Folio and at the Holy Trinity church at Stratford.
“The literary discovery of the century. We have a new portrait of Shakespeare, the first ever that is identified as him by the artist and made in his lifetime,” says the editor of Country Life, Mark Hedges.
Watch their video here:
OnTwitter, a lot of users had something to say about the matter:
Is this the only picture of Shakespeare painted during his lifetime? pic.twitter.com/QdbM1zYBXB
— Ivan Kirby (@hellothisisivan) May 19, 2015 If I had the skills to photoshop the "new" Shakespeare pic onto HipsterCop, I would.
— Pat Black (@PatBlack9) May 20, 2015 Shakespeare's true face revealed in a botany textbook? I want to believe it, but I have to say I'm not convinced... #Shakespeare #Sceptic
— Becky Bye (@BeckyBye1) May 20, 2015 Surreal to hear that details of a new Shakespeare play will appear in... Country Life.
— Christopher Hawtree (@chrishawtree) May 20, 2015