Experts have digitally rebuilt the face of 18th century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach—and say the results may surprise his fans.Using his bones and computer modeling, they have come up with an image of a thick-set man with closely-shorn white hair. The new Bach face, the creation of Scottish forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson, will go on display at the Bachhaus museum in the eastern German town of Eisenach, Bach's birthplace, next month...
Eighteenth century portraits show him very differently. "For most people, Bach is an old man in a wig, it is a stylized image, we have no realistic portrait of him," Joerg Hansen, managing director of the museum, told Reuters. "We know he was a physical man, that he danced, that he stamped his feet when he played, that he sang. He was a very dynamic man—with this reconstruction you can see it."
Bach's bones were excavated in 1894 and sculptors first used them to help create a bust in 1908. But it was mainly based on a portrait of the composer and contemporary critics said it was so inaccurate that it might as well have been the composer Handel.
"It's not really that important to know what he looked like, we love Bach through his music, that is why people come to the museum, but they are also interested in the man," Hansen said.
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Look at that wild look in his eyes! Looks like a coffee addict to me.
ReplyDeleteToo bad we don't have Mozart's skull so that we could reconstruct him.
He looks very similar to me, only he doesn't have his wig on. I wonder how embarrassed he would have been to be in public without his wig.
ReplyDeleteLynette: None of the Mozart experts could agree, if they had it. They'd be arguing over the crossed eyes, the double-bump nose, the too-large frontal lobes, the deformed ear and the hunch back... As to the wild look, I think it's the coffee and the 20 kids running around the house.
ReplyDeletePSM: He looks familiar to me too. Last night I was trying to place him. If the eyes were less intense and the nose were larger, he'd look like my dad. Same skull, hairline, neck and mouth.
I think he has some Italian look. He seems a cousin of Pavarotti or something. I think he is not well depicted.
ReplyDeleteBut it's a good idea for me to do famous characters digitally.
A guy looking like him was selling some well-tempered croissants in Venice last week, among them a Goldberg variation, jam filled.
ReplyDeleteEmma: You're right, he looks Italian. Odd!
ReplyDeleteMerisi: Well-tempered croissants... I love it!
I quite like the "new" Bach - his face has kindness in it, and soul.
ReplyDeleteA guy looking like him was selling some well-tempered croissants in Venice last week, among them a Goldberg variation, jam filled.
ReplyDeleteI quite like the "new" Bach - his face has kindness in it, and soul.
ReplyDeleteHe looks very similar to me, only he doesn't have his wig on. I wonder how embarrassed he would have been to be in public without his wig.
ReplyDelete