Shakespeare and his contemporaries before 1876

Alfred Brewer created this photographic print called “Shakespeare and his contemporaries.” The image shows a group of men and women in renaissance dress, some standing and some seated around a table. It depicts not just Shakespeare, but many of the playwrights and poets who would have been his professional equals, even rivals. The absence of people of color is notable. England in the 16th and 17th centuries was not as homogenous as we may think and yet the cultural record, then and now, is overwhelmingly white. Perhaps it is worth considering that for all his genius, Shakespeare, like all of us, was a product of his time. It can be difficult to see the complexities of the past when looking through the lens of the present. This photographic print is also a potent reminder of the stories that get told, and by whom.