John Taylor ( 1580–1653) was an English artist who has been put forth as the most likely painter of the

Chandos portrait Chandos may refer to: Titles * Duke of Chandos, and Baron Chandos, three English titles, all extinct * Viscount Chandos, a modern title in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Businesses * Chandos Records * Chandos Publishing Other uses * Chand ...

William Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 26 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's nation ...

. No other painting by him is known. Taylor was probably a child actor with the

Children of Paul's The Children of Paul's was the name of a troupe of boy actors in Elizabethan and Jacobean London. Along with the Children of the Chapel, they were an important component of the companies of boy players that constituted a distinctive feature of E ...

in the late 1590s. Though there was certainly a boy actor of that name with the troupe, it cannot be proved that this was the artist. The connection is based on

George Vertue George Vertue (1684 – 24 July 1756) was an English engraver and antiquary, whose notebooks on British art of the first half of the 18th century are a valuable source for the period. Life Vertue was born in 1684 in St Martin-in-the-Fields, ...

's assertion that the artist was also an actor.

Tarnya Cooper Tarnya Cooper is an art historian and author who is currently the National Trust for Places of Historic Interest or Natural Beauty, National Trust's Curatorial & Collections Director. She has previously been the Chief Curator and Curatorial Dir ...

, ''Searching for Shakespeare'', National Portrait Gallery Publications /

Yale University Press Yale University Press is the university press of Yale University. It was founded in 1908 by George Parmly Day, and became an official department of Yale University in 1961, but it remains financially and operationally autonomous. , Yale Universi ...

, 2006, p. 57. It is possible that confusion has arisen with the well-known actor Joseph Taylor, who also began his career as a child actor. Vertue also says that Taylor was an "intimate friend" of Shakespeare's. By the 1620s Taylor was a member of the

Painter-Stainers' Company The Worshipful Company of Painter-Stainers is one of the livery companies of the City of London. An organisation of painters of metals and wood is known to have existed as early as 1283. A similar organisation of stainers, who generally worked o ...

, having at least six apprentices between 1626 and 1648. Taylor became a significant figure within the company, rising to the positions of Renter Warden (1632–33), Upper Warden (1635–36) and Master (1643–44). A portrait of Taylor in his official capacity as Warden is in the collection of the company.

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, John 1651 deaths 17th-century English painters English male painters Portraits of William Shakespeare Year of birth uncertain