Window Cleaner Claims Discovery of $264 Million Shakespeare Portrait

Potential Shakespearean Treasure

A British win­dow clean­er, Steven Wad­low, has made a ground­break­ing claim: he believes he has dis­cov­ered the first por­trait of William Shake­speare paint­ed in the author’s lifetime. 

The paint­ing, acquired by his antique deal­er father in the 1960s, has been ana­lyzed and dat­ed to around 1595.

Resemblance to Authenticated Portrait

The paint­ing report­ed­ly bears a strik­ing resem­blance to the only authen­ti­cat­ed por­trait of Shake­speare, known as the Cobbe por­trait, which was cre­at­ed around 1612. How­ev­er, his­to­ri­ans remain skep­ti­cal about the authen­tic­i­ty of Wad­low’s claimed discovery.

Skepticism Towards Working-Class Finder

Wad­low, a 58-year-old win­dow clean­er, feels that his claims are being dis­missed due to his blue-col­lar back­ground. “Because I’m a work­ing-class trades­per­son, the peo­ple who have been study­ing this for years, they don’t want to find this out from a no-one,” he told The Sun.

Potential Value of the Artwork

Art experts have esti­mat­ed the val­ue of Wad­low’s paint­ing at a stag­ger­ing $264 mil­lion, mak­ing it poten­tial­ly the most valu­able por­trait of Shake­speare in exis­tence. How­ev­er, the paint­ing’s authen­tic­i­ty remains unverified.

Wadlow’s Efforts to Prove Authenticity

Wad­low has invest­ed thou­sands of dol­lars in efforts to prove the art­work’s authen­tic­i­ty since 2012, when his father noticed the resem­blance to the Bard. The paint­ing had been hang­ing in his father’s liv­ing room for decades before Wad­low began his quest.

Uncertain Future for the Painting

Despite his efforts, Wad­low has resigned him­self to the pos­si­bil­i­ty that the truth behind the paint­ing may nev­er be ful­ly revealed. How­ev­er, he remains hope­ful that the paint­ing will one day be rec­og­nized and appre­ci­at­ed for its poten­tial his­tor­i­cal significance.