Edward de Vere

Portrait of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford (1550-1604), formerly owned by the Duke of St. Albans, currently in the possession of the Minos Miller Trust Fund.

NOTE: The identification and attribution of this portrait is suspect on the grounds of fashion and artistic style, according to Sir Roy Strong. Burris, Barbara, "The Ashbourne Portrait: Part II", Shakespeare Matters Winter 2002, pp. 20-22, n. 31: "The dating of the Ashbourne painting by costume which sets the Ashbourne in its proper time frame of circa 1579-80 raises the issue of the incongruity of the costume of the St. Alban’s portrait with the inscription denoting that it is a portrait of Edward de Vere. The style of the doublet and the high collar with its tiny lace edged in black that is a precursor of the ruff, in the St. Alban’s portrait belongs to the period of the late 1550s or 1560s. Sir Roy Strong has dated it circa 1565. <31> (Private correspondence with Derran Charlton, Oxfordian researcher, South Yorkshire, England, 2000. Concerning Strong’s recommendation to Peer not to use the St. Alban’s as a portrait of Edward de Vere in the television documentary The Shakespeare Conspiracy.)