Yet Another “New” Shakespeare Image

An image of Shakespeare hitherto unnoted and unrecorded is found in an engraved frontispiece placed before The Lives of the Most Famous English Poets: Or, The Honour of Parnassus (1687) by William Winstanley. The engraving depicts a bust of Shakespeare placed on a pedestal that stands between obelisks honoring Chaucer and Cowley. A winged figure conferring fame on all three poets hovers above Shakespeare, who is accorded pride of place. The engraving is by Frederick Hendrick van Hove and appears to derive from Gerard Soest’s adaptation of the Chandos portrait of Shakespeare.