Katherine Chiljan – Oxford’s Religious Portraits

Two 16th-century paintings and one etching have come to light, which Katherine Chiljan believes are portraits of Edward de Vere, 17th Earl of Oxford, demonstrating his interest in Christianity and mortality. One of the paintings is an allegory showing a young courtier, identified in the 1980s as Oxford, surrounded by Psalm excerpts in what looks like a theatrical setting. In addition, at the painting’s center, is a verse with a Christian message, likely written by Oxford. Five versions of the painting are known to exist, one with a tradition of royal provenance. The other 16th-century painting is a fragment of an altarpiece that was auctioned in London. The main figure, at prayer, is anonymous; Katherine shows why she thinks it is Oxford in the late 1590s. A 16th-century etching, which shows an aristocrat writing, was likely based on a portrait miniature, now lost. It has shades of Hamlet. Next to him is a quote about death from a Protestant martyr. Its artist made engraved portraits of Queen Elizabeth, and Sir Henry Brooke, 8th Baron Cobham. Katherine notes specific details about the three images along with comments by Oxford’s contemporaries indicating that he himself was a religious person.

Bio: Katherine Chiljan is an independent scholar who has published several articles about the 17th Earl of Oxford, and wrote the Anti-Stratfordian book, Shakespeare Suppressed (2011, 2016), which earned her an award for distinguished scholarship at Concordia University, Portland. She also contributed to Contested Year (2016), which revealed errors made by an orthodox professor in his book about King Lear. She is currently a board member of the Shakespeare Authorship Coalition. She has been a regular speaker at SOF conferences