"It's really extraordinary, and I've never come across anything like it before. Common sense would suggest that the defacing probably occurred relatively early in its history - it's such a visceral, violent reaction that it seems someone only with a connection to the subject would have done it."
"We shouldn't eliminate it as a possibility that he and Shakespeare were lovers, but equally we can't 100 per cent say they were either. In his writing, there's so much that seems to break down the heteronormative idea of society. Famously, his sonnets, which I'm pretty sure were dedicated to the Earl of Southampton, were very flattering. But it gets more complex, because you'd want to flatter the person who was paying you."
"worn on the body close to the heart and were frequently exchanged as love tokens"
A 16th-century miniature portrait of Henry Wriothesley, third Earl of Southampton, emerged from a private family collection and was later sold. The miniature would typically be worn close to the body and frequently exchanged as love tokens. The back of the portrait shows a playing card's red heart overpainted with a black arrow, echoing the spear on Shakespeare's coat of arms. The overpainting appears visceral and likely done early by someone connected to the subject. The miniature raises the possibility of a romantic link between Southampton and William Shakespeare, but patronage and flattering sonnets complicate definitive interpretation.
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