The Shakespeare Conference: SHK 13.1261  Wednesday, 8 May 2002

From:           Al Magary <
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Date:           Tuesday, 7 May 2002 07:58:27 -0700
Subject: 13.1250 Deceptive Portrait
Comment:        Re: SHK 13.1250 Deceptive Portrait

Pardon but I must requote from the NYT article with some excisions:

>...Alec Cobbe's Anglo-Irish
> forebears left him a richer legacy, a collection of major works of art.
> It is now exhibited in two stately homes: Newbridge House, outside
> Dublin, and Hatchlands Park, 30 miles south of London....
> But now, after an intense two months of research, Mr. Cobbe says he
> believes he has found the earliest extant portrait of Henry Wriothesley,
> Third Earl of Southampton...
> Mr. Cobbe, 57, himself a painter, restorer, designer and musician...
> ...Mr.  Cobbe obtained
> confirmation of his finding from an old friend, Alastair Laing, adviser
> on art and sculpture to the National Trust, the conservation agency that
> leases Hatchlands Park to Mr. Cobbe...
> With that, Mr. Cobbe contacted Anthony Holden...
> Indeed, Hatchlands Park, an 18th-century mansion set on 420 acres of
> parkland a few miles from Guildford, has more to offer...
> As part of a musical tour of the mansion, Mr. Cobbe springs from one
> keyboard to another...
> Now the public seems certain to include Shakespeare lovers...

Perhaps it is now very clear that the owner loves the spotlight and has
a great deal invested in pushing a dubious historical finding?

I used to be a newspaper reporter and ran across people like this all
the time:  true believers, publicity hounds.

Remember the Hitler Diaries that H.R. Trevor-Roper endorsed as genuine?

Al Magary

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