The Portrait of Mr W.H.: Oscar Wilde

During a conversation about literary forgeries, Erskine tells his young guest that he has received - as a legacy from a friend, the Cambridge scholar Cyril Graham - what is purported to be an Elizabethan portrait. The painting depicts a beautiful young man in late-sixteenth-century costume, whom Graham claimed to be Willie Hughes, a boy-actor serving in Shakespeare`s company. This prompts Erskine`s guest to delve deeper into the mystery surrounding the real identity of the dedicatee and the inspiration of Shakespeare`s Sonnets, with unforeseen consequences.
Far from being a dry exposition of a literary theory, The Portrait of Mr W.H. - which the author himself described as one of his "early masterpieces" - is an engaging and entertaining narrative exploring the intricate facets of trust and betrayal, historical truth and fiction, written with Wilde`s trademark dialogical sharpness and stylistic perfection.