Well, while exploring Flickr, I came across a multitude of photographs of the Folger Shakespeare Library (my future professional home, if all goes well). One of the pictures in particular caught my eye, and I have inserted it's location below. It is a carving in relief of Richard III and his two nephews. Richard has long been lambasted as an evil, power-hungry character who seized control of the throne of England and had his nephews (the legitimate heirs to the monarchy) locked away in a tower, where they were supposedly subsequently murdered.
Here the artist has portrayed Richard much as Shakespeare had envisioned, with a slight hunchback a cunning countenance. As appreciative a fan as I am of Shakespeare's plays, I cannot help but mention an interesting (if more or less fictitious) alternative perspective, outlined by Josephine Tey in her mystery The Daughter of Time. I recommend this read for an fuller understanding of the complexity of Richard's character across fact an fiction.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/melliemonty/889240097/
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