The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1875-07-08
THE SHAKESPEARE MASK.

ITS eKNUINENEss SUPPORTED BY A GERMAN |
PRoFEssoR-HIs ARGUMENT-THE FINDING |
OF THE MASK.
The question of the genuiness of the |
Shakespearean mask is thus revived by the |
Frankfurter Zeitung: A death mask of
Shakespeare belongs in itself 70 the most in
teresting of things; but this interest must be
greatly increased when we see the hitherto
unknown death mask suddenly found In
the midst of Germany, while no one is able
| to say how il came there. The first idea Is
that il may be counterfeit, as there have
been so many Shakespeare counter
/ feits, partly the work of malicious people
seeking amusement in the wise com menta
| ries of the learned, partly of literary vanity,
and partly of fraudulent greed. A genuine
death mask OF Shakespeare would be inval
liable, and our death mask is genuine. At
least such Is the opinion of Prof. Schaafhau-
sen, of Bonn, who has devoted to it a very
profound essay recently published in the
Tenth Year Book Of the German Shakes
peare Society. His most important reasons
are the following: l. The mask was taken
from dead face and is not the product OF
art. This is proved by the expression of the
skin, by certain peculiar irregularities which
hardly any artist could invent, and by the
hairs of the mustache and beard which
. | remainj sticking in the plaster, and which,
!, according to the opinion of the famous Eng
glish anatomist. Richard Owen, correspond
. In their peculiar STRUCTURE 10 I0OS0 I6dtuI6S
! of the mask where they are found. These
hairs of the beard of Shakespeare also cor
, respond in their reddish brown with the
! color in which the beard of the Stratford
l, Dust was painted. The dirty yellow color of
y the oil with which the mask is saturated is
= such as might be expected in plaster cast
. two centuries old. 2. Upon the back of the
; mask there is upon the edge the inscription
l"A ID. 1916" the year of Shakespeare
:, y death. According to the opinion OF experts
. the figures are such as were used at tina
: time. They have not sharp, but round
q q edges, indicating that they were not cut in
70 afCerward, but were
" WRITTEN WITH STICK
'e in the plaster, while it was yet soft. 3. Al
l. though Goethe was in error when hi
- praised the beauty of the formation o
10 Raphael's skull, end il afterward proved Z
=, be that OF Canon Adiutori, Schaafhausen j
~ confident that the alleged death mask o
"a Shakespeare must, in any event, have beer
an that OF a man OF very great Importance. ID
,a gives all its measurements, and especlall,
an dwelis upon the unus ual breadth of tn
r forehead, which is las millemetres. Th
features of the mask also those of
man of the age of ffty-two, IS ShskespeaT
be was when he died. A. One would SUI
ok pose that the resemblance of ia
-. mask would be the most importaI
'e point about it; but unfortunately the poi
traits of Shakespeare are so perfectly dlssln
ter liar to each other that the Investigation
Tor this subject is difficult. The Stratford bus
however, which, to judge from the eye
III must have been executed after death mas
'ut and whose artist probably attempted to gu
a life to the shrunken features of the corp
~, by an exaggerated fullness of outline, h
~ very little resemblance to our mask, but
he has, like this, beard on the chin, while u
,ot most trustworthy portraits of the poet, al
the copperplate of Doreshout, which is pr
ora fixed to his works and sung by Ben job
re SOD, does not accord with u
,n n bust at all but does acco
10y with our death mask in We
ust high degree, except that in the copperpls
as the poet is represented with full bear
"a The mask was found in 1S49 by Lot
IS- Becker, the painter, in the possession OF
, of brio a. brac dealer in Mayence. From Ia
80 till 1866 it was in the possession OF Pr
~ owen in London, and after the death
~ Louis Becker was restored to his family
20 Darmstadt, in whose hands it now is. Pr
- Schaafhausen, who, as we have said,
,ha made the most Jealous investigations a.
ba1 the most careful inquiries on all sides,
'hIs also Investigated the history OF the mas
,D but his essay gives only the chief points
Ter IL and is not complete. He is, howev
,sS thoroughly convinced of the genuinen'
th1 of the mask, and finally pleads with zeal
M a comparison of the mask with the skull
80, Shakespeare, which is still in existence
80 the grave at S.ratford.