A window cleaner who inherited a painting from his father is convinced it’s the only portrait of William Shakespeare from his lifetime – and that it’s worth a staggering £200million.
Steven Wadlow, 58, has spent years trying to prove the 16th-century painting that has been in his family for decades is a genuine portrait of The Bard.
He says he’s had experts look over it and even been told it’s worth the massive nine-figure sum.
And while the 58-year-old is yet to be given a definite yes – or no – he’s on a mission to get answers.
Steven says that’s not because he wants to pocket the hefty sum, but because he’s become ‘a bit obsessed’ with finally finding out the truth.

Father-of-two Steven Wadlow is convinced the portrait that’s been in his family for decades is William Shakespeare – and worth £200million

He says experts have looked over the art, and believe it was painted in the right period

Steven said his father bought the painting from the Great Tew Estate (pictured) in Oxfordshire in the 1960s
The Aylesbury man said the portrait used to hang on a wall above the television at his parents’ home in Bucks. – until one evening his father, a collector and an antiques dealer, recognised the face of Shakespeare from a history documentary.
And in the years that have followed Steven has worked tirelessly researching the playwright, art history and consulting experts who later confirmed the painting was done in 1595 – when The Bard was 31 years old.
Steven told MailOnline: ‘I’m not some mad person hoping to get money – it’s about teasing people’s interest enough so that more people look into it.
‘I just want it to be out there and talked about. We get more mysteries as it goes – but I think it warrants being one of the proper contenders like the others that are being discussed.’
The painting, which Steven keeps hidden away in storage, was bought by his father Peter, now aged 92 years, in the mid-1960s from Great Tew Estate in Oxfordshire for £700.
He continued: ‘This was quite a lot of money at the time – you could have bought a whole new van for that money.
‘But my father stored it under a bench in his workshop for years before hanging it on the wall of his living room.’
The story took a turn in 2012 when Peter, who was watching an episode of Tony Robinson’s Time Team on Channel 4, thought he recognised a young Shakespeare in the portrait hanging above the television from a picture of the playwright that came up on the screen.

Steven says the painting use to sit in his home, but now he keeps it locked up in storage

The Droeshout portrait of William Shakespeare circa 1623. Several other portraits from the 17th century allegedly show the playwright during his lifetime
Steven recalled: ‘My father phoned me and said: “Can you look this up on the internet? We may have a portrait of William Shakespeare”.
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‘And it’s going to sound horrible but at first, I thought: so what? I’m not interested in Shakespeare, never have been and there must be thousands of pictures of Shakespeare out there.’
But then, a couple of weeks later, a lecturer in art history and English literature visited Steven’s parents’ home and complimented them on their ‘copy of William Shakespeare’ when she saw the portrait on the wall.
The window cleaner said: ‘My father told her it was a real painting and he took it off the all and handed it to her so she could have a closer look.
‘She started shaking and said: “This could be a really important painting”.’
Since then, the married father-of-two has been determined to get the painting seriously looked at by experts – and the public.
Steven said he took the painting to several experts who X-rayed and analysed it, and they were able to confirm it was a genuine 16th-century portrait thought to have been painted around 1595.
An art dealer later told Steven the painting, if proven to be a genuine portrait of England’s most famous playwright, could be worth £200m.
Steven said: ‘That did spur me on – but what spurred me on more than anything is: I don’t like giving up.
‘It became a bit of an obsession.’
He stressed that his endeavour was a lot less about money than recognition and fruitful debate.
Steven continued: ‘If somebody came along and offered multi-millions, I’m not suggesting I would not give up then and enjoy the money instead – but it’s not about the money. It’s about proving myself right.
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‘I want to get it out there because it’s very difficult to ever prove that it is Shakespeare. There is a chance that we might be able to prove that it is William Shakespeare, but it’s unlikely we ever will.’
He added: ‘If they prove me wrong, they prove me wrong. But to prove me wrong, they need to prove that it’s somebody else in that portrait – and nobody in 12 years has done that.’
Two years ago, Steven set up a website called ‘Is this William Shakespeare?’, where he writes about his research surrounding the painting.
When asked whether family and friends think he’s mad, the father laughed: ‘My family get a bit fed up with it sometimes, but I think they also admire the fact that I persevere with it.
‘They don’t think I’m mad as in I’m flogging a dead horse because I am wrong – I think they might be concerned that I’ll never get anywhere.
‘That would be a fair assumption but it’s not done me any harm – it’s been a journey and I’ve enjoyed it. I’ve learned more than I ever did at school with this painting.
‘I’ve become more interested in art as well, which makes me appreciate it all the more.’