XI. Is this the face of genius?

He is mischievous, keen-eyed, almost flirtatious. Half twinkle, half smirk, he looks out from his portrait with a tolerant, world-weary air. This is Shakespeare. Perhaps you thought you knew him: bald pate, thin brows, stiff white ruff. You thought wrong. There are 450 images of the greatest writer in modern history, so many that most people assume they know what Shakespeare looked like. All but three of those pictures are, in the opinion of most experts, fakes (or someone else).

There was, in fact, a whole industry in turning dusty pictures of forgotten nobles into “Shakespeare” portraits in the 1700s. Only the bust on William Shakespeare's grave in Stratford and an engraving for the cover of his first collection of plays – both done after his death – are agreed among most authorities to be actual likenesses.

But a retired engineer in a mid-sized Ontario city has a picture, handed down through 12 generations of his family, which may be the only portrait painted in Shakespeare's lifetime. The painting, which the owner hopes to auction through a major American house, bears the date 1603 in its upper right-hand corner. Experts have said it is from the right era and in the style of the time. The only dispute that remains is whether the rag paper label, affixed to the back, is right. It reads, in part, “Shakspere” – as the playwright spelled his own name – “This Likeness taken 1603, Age at that time 39 ys.”

The painting's owner, who does not wish to be identified out of fear for the security of the painting and his family, is in the final stages of authenticating its provenance. He has been told it could be worth thousands, or millions, of dollars.

“And to think we had it hanging for years on the dining-room wall,” chuckled the man, who has spent most of his savings trying to have the painting authenticated. “And when I was a kid, it was under my grandmother's bed.”

Told of the portrait yesterday by The Globe and Mail, Shakespeare scholars and art historians were cautious. “If this absolutely is a portrait of Shakespeare, then it is very significant,” Catharine MacLeod, curator of 16th- and 17th-century portraits at the National Portrait Gallery in London, said. The painting is about 42 centimetres by 33 centimetres, in tempera (made of pure pigment and egg yolk) on solid oak.

It is slightly worm-eaten at the top but otherwise well preserved, its colours rich, its sheen bright. It shows a Shakespeare with fluffy red hair and blue-green eyes, an appearance that matches descriptions of him in the journals of his contemporaries Christopher Marlowe and Francis Bacon.

The painting is reputed to be by one John Sanders, born in Worcester, England, and christened in March, 1575. The Canadian owner can trace his genealogy back to Mr. Sanders, who appears on the list of players in playbills of the era for various theatrical companies, including that of the King's Players, the same troupe as William Shakespeare. He performed in small roles, and sometimes painted backdrops. If the inscription on the back of the painting is to be believed, Mr. Sanders got Shakespeare to sit still for a day or two in 1603, or perhaps painted him from memory, having seen him at the theatre each day.

Список использованной литературы

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4. Ермолович Д. И Имена собственные на стыке языков и культур. М., 2001.

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6. Кабакчи В. В. Практика англоязычной межкультурной коммуникации. СПб., 2001.

7. Казакова Т.А. Практические основы перевода. СПб., 2000.

8. Комиссаров В.Н., Коралова А.Л. Практикум по переводу с английского языка на русский. М., 1990.

9. Ланчиков В., Чужакин А. Трудности перевода. Пособие для студентов III-IV курсов переводческих факультетов. М., 2001.

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12. Слепович В.С. Курс перевода. Мн., 2001.

13. Томахин Г.Д. Реалии-американизмы. М., 1988.

Список рекомендуемой литературы

1. Алексеева И. С. Введение в переводоведение. СПб., 2004.

2. Алексеева И.С. Профессиональный тренинг переводчика: Учебное пособие по устному и письменному переводу для переводчиков и преподавателей. СПб., 2001.

3. Борисова Л.И. «Ложные друзья» переводчика с английского языка. Под ред. Комиссарова В.Н., М., 1982.

4. Верещагин Е.М., Костомаров В.Г. Язык и культура (лингвострановедение в преподавании русского языка как иностранного). М., 1990.

5. Гиляревский Р.С., Старостин Б.А. Иностранные имена и названия в русском тексте. М., 1985.

6. Казакова, Т.А. Imagery in Translation. Практикум по художественному переводу/ Учебное пособие. СПб., 2004.

7. Комиссаров В.Н. Современное переводоведение. М., 2001.

8. Комиссаров В.Н. Теория перевода. М., 1990.

9. Крупнов В.Н. В творческой лаборатории переводчика, М., 1976.

10. Миньяр-Белоручев Р.К. Общая теория перевода и устный перевод. М., 1980.

11. Миньяр-Белоручев Р.К. Последовательный перевод. М., 1969

12. Рецкер Я.И. Теория перевода и переводческая практика. М., 1974.

13. Солодуб Ю. П. Теория и практика художественного перевода. СПб., 2004.

14. Тюленев С. В. Теория перевода. М., 2004.

15. Чужакин А.П. Устный перевод XXI: теория + практика, переводческая скоропись. М., 2001