威廉·莎士比亞的肖像

Experts found that one of the most recognizable1 portraits2 of William Shakespeare is not real. This means that we no longer have a good idea of what Shakespeare looked like.

專家發現，一副最知名的威廉·莎士比亞的肖像是不真實的。這就意味著我們不再知道莎士比亞的確切的模樣。

“Its very possible that many pictures of Shakespeare are unreliable because many of them are copies of this one，” said an expert from Britains National Portrait Gallery. The discovery comes after four months of working.

“很可能許多莎士比亞的照片都是不可信的，因為其中許多都是這副肖像的摹本”，一位英國國家肖像畫廊的專家說。這個發現的結論是通過四個月的考證得出的。

Experts from the gallery say the picture， commonly known as the “Flower” portrait was actually painted in the 1800s， two centuries after Shakespeares death.

畫廊的專家說，這幅俗稱《花》的肖像實際上是19世紀的作品，是在莎士比亞的死后兩個世紀畫出來的。

The art experts who work at the gallery say they used modern technology to check the paint on the picture. These checks found traces of paint deep in the picture dating from about 1814.

藝術畫廊工作的專家說他們使用現代技術檢查了畫上的顏料，檢測發現了在畫深層，顏料的痕跡可以追溯到大約1814年之前。

Shakespeare died in 1616， and the date that appears on the portrait is 1609. “We now think the portrait dates back to around 1818 to 1840. This was when there was a new interest in Shakespeares plays，” Tarnya Cooper， the gallerys 16th curator said.

莎士比亞于1616年去世，畫像上的日期顯示是1609年。美術館的第16任館長Tarnya Cooper說：“現在我們認為肖像可以追溯到大約1818年到1840年。這個時間是當時人們對莎士比亞的戲劇重新產生興趣的時候”。

The picture has often been used as a cover for collections of his plays. It is called the Flower portrait because one of its owners Desmond Flower， gave it to the Royal Shakes-

peare company.

這副畫像經常被用作莎士比亞劇本集的封面。它被人稱為《花》肖像是因為其所有者之一的Desmond Flower，把它交給了皇家莎士比亞公司。

Two other images of Shakespeare are also being studied and the results will come out later. But for now what Shakespeare really looked like will still be a mystery.

莎士比亞的另外兩個形象也正在被研究之中，結果不久后會出來。但是迄今，莎士比亞真正的長相仍是一個謎。