The National Portrait Gallery in London, UK, is to open a new exhibition on the life of playwright William Shakespeare.

The exhibition, called Searching for Shakespeare, will run between 2 March and 29 May 2006 and includes portraits, costumes, manuscripts and jewellery from the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries.

According to Sandy Nairne, director of the National Portrait Gallery, the exhibition will be the largest ever to focus on Shakespeare in his own time, drawing directly on original records relating to the playwright and his contemporaries.

The exhibition also includes the famous “Chandos” portrait – commonly believed to be the most accurate picture of Shakespeare – and five other portraits claimed to feature the bard.

“This exhibition assembles most of the key portraits previously thought to derive from the seventeenth century and all regarded at different points as being a contender for being a definitive image of the writer,” said Nairne.

A programme of conferences, events and guest speakers will accompany the exhibition, including talks given by the former director of Shakespeare’s Globe, actor Mark Rylance. Details: www.npg.org.uk