Curious Portraits of Dead Elizabethans

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The Hampton Court Portrait of Shakespeare
How an Examination of Costume Raises Questions
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Lee Durkee
March 2023
Two Early Reviews of STALKING SHAKESPEARE: a Memoir of Madness, Murder, and My Search for the Poet Beneath the Paint (due out from Scribner…
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Lee Durkee
August 2022
DOES THIS PORTRAIT MINIATURE DEPICT THE FAIR YOUTH 3RD EARL OF SOUTHAMPTON?
This beautiful portrait miniature, kept in London's excellent Victoria & Albert Museum, was for years identified on that museum's web page without…
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Lee Durkee
May 2022
A Curious Portrait of a Man Stabbed 57 Times That Might Actually Be A Famous Lost Painting Of William Shakespeare
Left: portrait known as David Rizzio (Royal Collection, artist unknown, image from Wikicommons). Right: the Droeshout engraving from Shakespeare's 1623…
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Lee Durkee
October 2020
My Novel THE LAST TAXI DRIVER Splashed Across Front Page of Le Monde's Weekly Book Review
In my wildest dreams I could never have imagined this happening. Very grateful to my French translator Nicolas Richard for landing me on the front page…
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Lee Durkee
September 2020
Does the 1608 Play A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY Contain One of Shakespeare's Greatest Soliloquies?
1608 Quarto of A YORKSHIRE TRAGEDY attributed to "Shakspeare" (Wikicommons). Note the epigram of what appears to be a falcon or hawk capturing another…
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Lee Durkee
March 2020
My New Novel THE LAST TAXI DRIVER Featured in Harper's Magazine April 2020 Issue
Very happy to report that Harper's magazine just (re)published the first chapter of my brand new novel THE LAST TAXI DRIVER (Tin House Books) in their…
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Lee Durkee
REVIEWS FOR THE LAST TAXI DRIVER
Clockwise from upper right: French, American, UK, American (paper), and Italian editions. REVIEWS FOR THE LAST TAXI DRIVER (TIN HOUSE BOOKS 2021) “A…
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Lee Durkee
November 2019
My Final Argument that the Portrait of an Unknown Fashion Fantastico in North Carolina Depicts the Privateer Sir Thomas Cavendish
Above: Unknown Gent (left, NCMA 67.13.4) & Sir Thomas Cavendish (right, image via Alamy.com) This distinguished-looking gent, decked out in a fabulous…
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Lee Durkee
October 2019
The Work of a Moment: the Mysterious Ghost Girl Portrait in the North Carolina Museum of Art
Above:detail from NCMA.67.13.6 The most curious portrait I've come across in a long time, and maybe ever, is this portrait of a long-necked Elizabethan…
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Lee Durkee
September 2019
A Curious Portrait In Which the New Countess of Southampton Poses With a Dog That Is Wearing an Elizabethan Ruff (Ruff) Doggie Collar
Above: Portrait of Elizabeth Vernon Countess of Southampton in Her Boudoir by Unknown Artist c. 1600 (Private collection Duke of Buccleuch and…
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Lee Durkee
20 Essential Questions To Ask When Attempting To Date An Elizabethan Portrait By Costume: Men's Portraits
Horatio de Vere. Gorget on neck indicates military background. Mini-skirt-like bum roll (with only minimal stuffing) and attached canion leggings…
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Lee Durkee
© 2023 Lee Durkee
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