Inscribed at top of paper on which Shakespeare is writing: "Merrie Wives of Windsor." (Elias Dexter's son also noted that the spines of the books on the shelves behind Shakespeare have titles, and he recorded the following: "Hamlet," "Terence in Englyshe," "Doraster and Faunia," and "Fauna Romanorum." There is no evidence that this is the case. He may have been reading into the painted highlights on the spines words that simply do not exist)
Versions: See no. D66 in Pressly Catalogue.
Title from Pressly.
Provenance
Provenance: Bought in or before 1864 by Elias Dexter, art dealer in New York City, from an unnamed lady to whom the painting had passed by descent.
Source of acquisition
Bought from Ella F. Dexter, Elias's granddaughter, then living in Brooklyn, through John Anderson, Jr., July 1906, $1500 plus commission. See Pressly Catalogue, p. 281.
Exhibited
Washington, D.C. Folger Shakespeare Library, 2016. Will and Jane: Shakespeare, Austen and the Cult of Celebrity. Washington, DC, Folger Shakespeare Library, May 2017- February 2018. Painting Shakespeare.
Cited/described in
Pressly, W.L. Paintings in the Folger Shakespeare Library, 153 Piper, David. Notes of Shakespeare Portraits at the Folger Shakespeare Library, Washington, made November 1962 [typescript], no. 7
