LONDON.- One of the National Portrait Gallery‘s most important possessions – the ‘Chandos’ portrait of William Shakespeare – is to tour Britain for the first time since it was acquired by the Gallery as part of a major exhibition of writers’ portraits. The Gallery’s first acquisition in 1856, the ‘Chandos’ portrait is now considered the only representation of the writer that has any claim to have been painted from life. This follows groundbreaking analysis conducted by the Gallery as part of its 150th anniversary exhibition, Searching for Shakespeare in 2006. One of the world’s best-known portraits, the painting shows the poet and playwright wearing a lace collar, moustache, beard and ear-ring. The ‘Chandos’ portrait is attributed to the artist John Taylor and is named after a previous owner. The work will be the centrepiece of an exhibition, Writers of Influence: Shakespeare to J.K. Rowling, displaying 61 of the Gallery’s most i