Overview

• Art historians Elizabeth Goldring and Emma Rutherford attribute the miniature to Nicholas Hilliard and date it to the 1590s.
• Family owners with a Southampton connection had kept the unpublished piece in a box before its identification and TLS publication.
• The portrait is thought to show a youthful Henry Wriothesley, 3rd Earl of Southampton, based on likeness and period context.
• Removal from the frame exposed a playing-card backing where a red heart was overwritten with a black spade or spear.
• Scholars note the sitter’s androgynous presentation suggests an intimate image and renews debate over Shakespeare’s ties to Southampton, while emphasizing that any romantic link remains unproven.