Martin Droeshout

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The famous Droeshout portrait of William Shakespeare

Martin Droeshout [ˈdruːʃaʊt] was an English engraver of Flemish descent, whose fame rests almost entirely on the fact that he made the title portrait for William Shakespeare's collected works, the First Folio of 1623. In addition to portraits (for example those of John Foxe, John Howson or George Villiers, 1st Duke of Buckingham) Droeshout made engravings of allegorical, mythical and sartirical topics.^{[citation needed]}

The exact identity of Droeshout is uncertain, since there were two Martin Droeshouts who could have been the engraver. Traditionally, the engraver is assumed to be Martin Droeshout the Younger (b. 1601), but recent research has suggested that his uncle, Martin Droeshout the Elder (1560s-c.1642), is a likelier candidate.

[edit] Which Martin Droeshout?

Most sources state that the engraver was Martin Droeshout the Younger (b. 1601), the son of Michael Droeshout, an immigrant from Brussels. Except for his date of birth and parentage, nothing concrete is known about Martin the Younger, but since his father was an engraver, it has been assumed that Martin followed in his father's footsteps, and that he made the engraving of Shakespeare. This has often been surprising to historians, since the Shakespeare portrait was called "true to life" by Ben Jonson, yet Droeshout was only fifteen years old when Shakespeare died. It has been assumed that he worked from a lost painting of Shakespeare rather than from his memory, if indeed he ever saw Shakespeare at all. It has also been considered odd that Droeshout the Younger was only 22 years old when the portrait was made, an unusually young age.

However, recent research by Mary Edmonds into the Droeshout family has revealed new information about Martin Droeshout the Elder, who was the uncle of the younger Martin. Edmonds shows that Droeshout the Elder was a member of the Painter-Stainer's Company which means that he was probably an engraver too. Edmonds writes,

"It seems perverse to attribute the Shakespeare engraving to the obscure and unsuitably young Martin Droeshout, born in 1601, as is customary, when there is a quite well-documented artist of the same name to hand, in the person of his uncle".^[1]

Edmonds also points out that Droeshout the Elder seems to have had an association with Marcus Gheeraerts the portraitist, and notes that there is evidence that a portrait of Shakespeare by Gheeraerts may have once existed. She surmises that Droeshout's engraving may have derived from this lost portrait (p. 344).