Fake-speare: Scholar Says Bard Portrait Is a Phony

First major da Vinci discovery in a century

(NEWSER) - For the first time in a century, a major “new” Leonardo da Vinci piece has emerged. This time, it’s a painting called “Salvatore Mundi,” discovered in a private American collection and confirmed as the master’s work. It’s a long-missing painting that once belonged to Charles I and Charles II, the Huffington Post reports—and soon, it will be publicly viewable. The image, painted in oil on wood panel, shows Christ with his hand raised in blessing. More»

'Evil' painting unharmed after Susan Burns' gallery attack

(NEWSER) - The woman who attacked a Paul Gauguin painting in Washington's National Gallery believed the painting of two topless Tahitian women was both "evil" and "homosexual," according to a criminal complaint obtained by The Smoking Gun . "I feel that Gauguin is evil. He has nudity and is bad for the children. He has two women in the painting and it’s very homosexual," Susan Burns, 53, told police. More»

Shakespeare expert was Britain's most celebrated critic

(NEWSER) - Britain's most acclaimed literary critic has died aged 90. Sir Frank Kermode—described as "the finest English critic of his generation" by author David Lodge—analyzed everything from Shakespeare to Kurt Vonnegut to the Bible in a writing career that spanned 70 years, the New York Times reports. Kermode rose from humble origins to senior teaching positions at universities in both the US and Britain. More»

Royal Shakespeare Company performs tragedy on Twitter

(NEWSER) - Four hundred-plus years after the first production of Romeo and Juliet, the star-cross'd lovers are playing out their tragic tale in a new medium: Twitter. The Royal Shakespeare Compan's production of Such Tweet Sorrow will play out in real time over the next 5 weeks, with six actors improvising as they go along and incorporating input from the audience, the Guardian reports. More»

Why the 'battle of the bard' keeps going

(NEWSER) - An upcoming film by action picture director Roland Emmerich claims the Earl of Oxford secretly wrote Shakespeare's plays. Shakespeare scholar James Shapiro, meanwhile, has written a book defending the bard. He tells the Wall Street Journal why the debate is hotter than ever:

• "It may have something to do with what it means to live in a culture saturated by memoir and shaped by an Internet in which conspiracy theory really thrives."