威廉·莎士比亚的肖像

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.

专家发现，一副最知名的威廉·莎士比亚的肖像是不真实的。这就意味着我们不再知道莎士比亚的确切的模样。

“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.

“很可能许多莎士比亚的照片都是不可信的，因为其中许多都是这副肖像的摹本”，一位英国国家肖像画廊的专家说。这个发现的结论是通过四个月的考证得出的。

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

画廊的专家说，这幅俗称《花》的肖像实际上是19世纪的作品，是在莎士比亚的死后两个世纪画出来的。

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.

艺术画廊工作的专家说他们使用现代技术检查了画上的颜料，检测发现了在画深层，颜料的痕迹可以追溯到大约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.

莎士比亚于1616年去世，画像上的日期显示是1609年。美术馆的第16任馆长Tarnya Cooper说：“现在我们认为肖像可以追溯到大约1818年到1840年。这个时间是当时人们对莎士比亚的戏剧重新产生兴趣的时候”。

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.

这副画像经常被用作莎士比亚剧本集的封面。它被人称为《花》肖像是因为其所有者之一的Desmond Flower，把它交给了皇家莎士比亚公司。

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.

莎士比亚的另外两个形象也正在被研究之中，结果不久后会出来。但是迄今，莎士比亚真正的长相仍是一个谜。