Bytes: G SPOT: RECREATED FACES

Friend Graham E sends me regular contributions for Bytes which I post under his own page I like to call The G Spot.

Here is the latest of Graham’s items . . .

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It’s all about the face

From Graham:

Hi Mr O,

Found this artist that features on YouTube,

Artist Panagiotis Constantinou, has recently used facial recognition software to interpret images of people from the past, these include Roman Emperors, Chinese Terracotta Warriors, Ancient Egyptians and English Royals among others.

https://www.worldhistory.org/user/belacheur/

Thanks, G.

I haven’t been able to find out much about Panagiotis Constantinou beyond what you have said above. Apparently he takes the faces from statues, paintings, sketches, selfies (I made that one up) and uses the facial recognition software to come up with more modern day depictions.

Here is a selection, words and text from the above link . . .

A recreation of the Roman empress Valeria Messalina (c. 20-22 CE-48 CE), wife of the emperor Claudius (r. 41-54 CE). Messalina's facial features are very loosely based on a combination of Roman portraits and artistic license. Messalina is depicted with blonde hair instead of her historically black hair. However, according to some dubious sources like the satirist Juvenal (l. c. 55-138 CE), she would don a blonde wig to go out into the city on nights of debauchery.

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A realistic approach in recreating Julius Caesar (100-44 BCE) by studying posthumous and contemporary statues and busts. Made using Artbreeder, an AI neural network.

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A photorealistic reconstruction of Roman emperor Commodus (r. 180-192 CE).

(By the way, Commodus was the bastard who killed Maximus Decimus Meridius, commander of the Armies of the North, General of the Felix Legions and loyal servant to the true emperor, Marcus Aurelius. Father to a murdered son. Husband to a murdered wife. And who would have his vengeance, in this life or the next.)

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A photorealistic facial reconstruction of Roman emperor Constantius Chlorus (r. 305-306 CE), the father of Constantine the Great (306-337 CE). Based on coinage and busts from the reign of Constantius Chlorus.

By the way #1:

Bored Panda has also posted pics and text of recreations of figures (well known and otherwise), although not using facial reconstruction software. The post can be accessed at:

https://www.boredpanda.com/historical-faces-reconstructed/?utm_source=google&utm_medium=organic&utm_campaign=organic

Here are some from that site . . .

Henry IV of France was King of France from 1589 to 1610, when we was assassinated by a fanatical Catholic. He was also known as Good King Henry for his great concern about the welfare of his subjects.

Philippe Froesch created a CGI 3D forensic facial reconstruction of Henry, using his skull as a base.

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Nicolaus Copernicus was one the brightest Renaissance-era mathematicians and astronomers, who formulated a model of the universe that placed the Sun rather than the Earth at the center of the universe. He died at the age of 70.

A Polish forensic team reconstructed this face from his remains.

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Johann Sebastian Bach (1685 – 1750) was a composer and musician of the Baroque period, who is regarded as one of the greatest composers of all time.

Scottish anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson took measurements of Bach's facial bones to recreate a 3D image of what the composer's face must've looked like.

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The reconstruction of an early Neolithic man's head was based on the skeleton of an adult male excavated in 1863, in Winterbourne Stoke, Wiltshire. Experts used skeletal analysis to recreate what a slender man in his 40's looked like about 5,500 ago, 500 years before the first monument at Stonehenge was built.

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Jane of Jamestown was a young girl (14-years-old) who was eaten by her 17th century Jamestown co-settlers. Her mutilated skull and severed leg bone were found in 2012, among butchered animal bones and other food remains, in a Jamestown cellar. Dr. Douglas Owsley, chief forensic anthropologist at the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of Natural History, examined the bones and determined that the cuts and marks on them were from an attempt to separate tissue and brain from the bones. Owsley concluded that it was a case of cannibalism as marks were consistent with other cases of cannibalism and the fact that the people of Jamestown were starving during the winter of 1609-1610.

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Maximilien de Robespierre was a French politician and lawyer, best known for his role in the French Revolution (1789 - 1799) and the Reign of Terror. He was executed by guillotine on July 28, 1794 at the age of 36.

Scientists used his death mask, as well as historical records detailing Robespierre's medical history to reconstruct his face and determine the illnesses he suffered.

Several clinical signs were described by contemporary witnesses: vision problems, nose bleeds (“he covered his pillow of fresh blood each night”), jaundice (“yellow colored skin and eyes”), asthenia (“continuous tiredness”), recurrent leg ulcers, and frequent facial skin diseases associated with scars of a previous smallpox infection. Historians speculate that he suffered from sarcoidosis. He also had permanent eye and mouth twitching. The symptoms worsened between 1790 and 1794. The day before his beheading, Robespierre suffered a firearm wound to the jaw in dubious circumstances.

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Mary Stuart was Queen of Scotland between 1542 and 1567 and she was only 6 days old when she acceded to the throne. She spent her last 18 years in custody of Queen Elizabeth of England after which Mary was found guilty of plotting to assassinate Elizabeth in 1586 and executed. She was 44 at the time of her execution.

Experts from the University of Dundee compiled all the available portraits of Mary Stuart to recreate a 3D image of what she would've looked like during her reign.

By the way #2:

Becca Saladin also recreates past historical figures into a modern look.

From the website My Modern Met at:

https://mymodernmet.com/royalty-now-historical-figures-modern-portraits/ . . .

As the daughter of two teachers, graphic designer Becca Saladin has always loved history. Now, she's combined her talents in graphic design with her thirst for learning to create Royalty Now. This fascinating Instagram account shows off her skills in transforming famous figures throughout history into modern characters you'd see walking the streets today. From Julius Caesar and Cleopatra to Queen Elizabeth I and Prince Albert, these historical greats get new life thanks to Saladin's work.

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