\n The picture, which appeared on a fire exit from the Globe Hotel’s staff car park in the early hours of Monday, resembles the un-named artist’s trademark style.\n<\/p>\n
\n But in a brief e-mail exchange Pest Control – which is his only point of contact – said: “This is not by the artist Banksy. Thanks for checking.”\n<\/p>\n
\n The portrait of Shakespeare which has appeared in a doorway in King’s Lynn (Image: BCKLWN)\n<\/p>\n
\n It came after one expert also cast doubts over the provenance of the piece, saying had flaws which would not be seen in a genuine Banksy.\n<\/p>\n
\n Norwich-based urban art dealer Lee Webster said: “I’ve followed his work, I know his people. It’s a good stencil but it’s got a flaw.\n<\/p>\n
\n “If you look at the arm there’s a gap. Banksy wouldn’t do that, if he did something he’d make sure that didn’t happen.\n<\/p>\n
\n The gap in the arm, which one expert said was a tell-tale sign the picture was not a genuine Banksy (Image: Chris Bishop)\n<\/p>\n
\n Lee Webster with some of the Banksys on show in Norwich last summer (Image: Denise Bradley)\n<\/p>\n
\n “Another giveaway is if you look at the hand, if you look at the fingers they’re really good, if you look at a Banksy they’re like sausages, they’re not his strong point.”\n<\/p>\n
\n Mr Webster, who curated an exhibition of Banksy’s work in Norwich last August, added: “It’s always interesting when something like this crops up, people always think it’s a Banksy but he’s not the only stencil artist out there.”\n<\/p>\n
\n As sightseers flocked to see the piece, the true identity of the artist remained a mystery.\n<\/p>\n
\n But the doorway in which it has appeared is around the corner from the medieval Guildhall of St George.\n<\/p>\n
\n Council workers cutting sheets of plastic to protect the artwork (Image: Chris Bishop)\n<\/p>\n
\n The stencilled portrait of the Bard has “Shakespeare woz ere” sprayed next to it.\n<\/p>\n
\n Supporters of the guildhall revamp claim it is one of few which survive which can claim that the nation’s greatest playwright took to their stage.\n<\/p>\n
\n But only scant circumstantial evidence exists, as West Norfolk Council looks set to borrow \u00a316m towards the cost of a \u00a330m revamp.\n<\/p>\n
\n The car park, within a derelict building, is owned by hospitality chain JD Wetherspoon, which said it would wait to see whether the work was a genuine Banksy before deciding what to do with it.\n<\/p>\n
\n West Norfolk Council has covered the piece with clear plastic, while a security guard is also watching over it.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The picture, which appeared on a fire exit from the Globe Hotel’s staff car park in the early…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":406070,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[6225,6485,6486,1120,96,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-406069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406069","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=406069"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/406069\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/406070"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=406069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=406069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=406069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}