LONDON -- A botanist and historian claims he's uncovered the only authentic portrait of William Shakespeare made during the writer's lifetime.
Mark Griffiths discovered an engraving he believes to be of the bard on the title page of The Herball by John Gerard, a 16th century book on plants. Details of the discovery were revealed in Country Life magazine Tuesday.
Griffiths, who describes himself as "a researcher of the relationship between human beings and plants, particularly as it manifests itself in culture and literature and the literature of the 16th century," said he realised the engraving on the title page of the book by William Rogers from 1597 contained allusions to people involved in its creation.
Four figures in particular piqued Griffiths' interest. They were wearing period dress and surrounded by plants and symbols that offered coded clues to their identities. Eventually he worked out that the group consisted of Gerard himself; Rembert Dodoens, a Flemish botanist; Lord Burghley, Sir William Cecil; and William Shakespeare.
The magazine's editor, Mark Hedges, called it “the literary discovery of the century."
"We have a new portrait of Shakespeare, the first ever that is identified as him by the artist and made in his lifetime," he said.
Until now, there have been only two universally accepted likenesses of Shakespeare, both created posthumously: a monument in Holy Trinity Church in Stratford thought to have been erected within six years of his death in 1616, and a portrait in the First Folio, a collection of his plays published in 1623.
In 2009, the Shakespeare Birthplace Trust put a painting known as the Cobbe portrait on display in Stratford-upon-Avon.
They said that the artwork, which was thought to date back to 1610, was an authentic portrait -- but critics said it didn't depict Shakespeare.
[img src="http://admin.mashable.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/42-28748463.jpg" caption="The "Cobbe Portrait," thought to be the only portrait of William Shakespeare painted during his lifetime, circa 1612, oil on panel, unknown artist." credit="Corbis" alt="The "Cobbe Portrait," thought to be the only portrait of William Shakespeare painted during his lifetime, circa 1612, oil on panel, unknown artist."]