Pierpont Morgan Library
Posted on 11/02/2004 5:59:58 AM PST by Pharmboy
Pierpont Morgan Library
In a detailed scan of the Washington life mask by Jean-Antoine Houdon, laser light was used to render every curve and
line of the face. The scan allowed a digital recreation of the life mask, right, made when Washington was 53. Family
members considered it the best likeness they had seen.
WASHINGTON, Nov. 1 -Mention George Washington and the first image conjured up by most people is that of a stern, old white-haired man with a piercing gaze. Seeing him every day on dollar bills and quarters, it is hard to imagine that he was not born looking like that.
A group of scientists, historians, archivists and other experts has set out to change all of that. Working from forensic evidence, documents and all manner of historical sleuthing, they are on a quest to put life and youth back into Washington.
The curators of Washington's Mount Vernon estate in Virginia are starting his makeover by asking a basic question: What did George Washington actually look like? While there are hundreds of paintings of the first president, Washington posed for relatively few of them, and the image portrayed often was modified by the artist's style.
To uncover the "real" George Washington, the estate drafted Dr. Jeffrey H. Schwartz, a professor of physical anthropology at the University of Pittsburgh and forensic expert, to lead a team that would reconstruct Washington's appearance based upon the best available sources. Using the latest computer imaging techniques, the team is trying to combine data from sculpture, paintings, physical artifacts like clothing and dentures, and written records to reproduce what Washington would have looked like in person.
And to make the project even more challenging, the team is trying to push imaging science to its limits by accurately depicting Washington as he would have looked at three stages of his life: a 19-year-old surveyor who earned his military reputation fighting for the British in the French and Indian War; the 45-year-old who took command of the Colonial Army during the Revolutionary War; and the 57-year-old statesman as he was sworn in as the first president of the new republic.
Dr. Schwartz said the base line image of Washington would be as he appeared at age 53, when the most accurate material on his appearance captured him. It was at this time that Jean-Antoine Houdon, a French neo-Classical sculptor famous for the accurate renditions of his subjects, went to Mount Vernon for several weeks to study, sketch and measure Washington for a life-size statue and bust. Washington's family members remarked that the resulting bust was the best likeness of him they had ever seen.
Using this digital image of Washington at 53, the researchers first will use computer software to "age" him to what he looked like as a 57-year-old. Similar techniques are now used to portray the current appearance of children who have been missing for years. Then the project will enter unexplored territory when it tries to "deconstruct," or de-age, Washington's image using custom software being written by an Arizona State University multidiscipline computer group called the Partnership for Research in Spatial Modeling, or Prism.
"This hasn't been done before, and we are not kidding ourselves into thinking it won't be a challenge," Dr. Schwartz said. "But what an opportunity this is. How often do you get a chance to try reconstructing the father of our country?"
The reconstruction project, which will cost an estimated $500,000, is part of an $85 million campaign by Mount Vernon to restore and revitalize interest in one of the country's most pivotal leaders, said James C. Rees, executive director of the estate. The project involves building a museum and an education center that will feature 23 galleries and theaters, as well as a presidential library. Most of the construction will be underground, as not to disrupt usual tours of the grounds and mansion, which attract almost a million visitors a year.
Mr. Rees said the new images of Washington would be used to create three life-size models depicting the man at three major moments in his life. Surveys of young people indicate that while they view Washington as important, they also think of him only as a stiff, boring old man.
"We want to change all of that," Mr. Rees said. "Washington was athletic, adventurous and risk-taking, known to be one of the finest horsemen of his day and willing to meet challenges head-on. Some have called him the nation's first action hero."
To determine Washington's true appearance, the research team is starting with Houdon's works. The sculptor visited Mount Vernon in October 1785 to observe Washington, making sketches, taking notes and using calipers and rules to measure his body. Houdon also made a "life mask" of Washington to capture his features, covering the general's face with plaster and having him lie down for several hours, breathing through two straws, while it hardened.
With this information, Houdon made the bust of Washington that remains at Mount Vernon, and the full-size statue completed years later that resides in the rotunda of the Virginia State Capitol in Richmond.
Mount Vernon Ladies Association
Scott Van Note, left, adjusted a laser device that measures a Washington bust. Dr. Jeffrey Schwartz, center, and Dr.
Anshuman Razdan are using the technique to help them recreate Washington's face at key phases in his life. They will use
the information to create three life-size models as part of a project at Mount Vernon.
The reconstruction of Washington starts with putting information about his appearance into digital form where it can be compared and tweaked.
The Arizona computer graphics group, led by Dr. Anshuman Razdan, has used portable laser scanning equipment to capture the three-dimensional shape of sculpture and other objects related to Washington's appearance.
At Mount Vernon, Dr. Razdan and his team made a detailed scan of the Houdon bust, using laser light to render every curve and line of the sculpture as 1.25 million data points filling 1.5 gigabytes of computer space. This resulted in a wire-frame rendering of the bust that can be compared with scans of other objects to see common features and variations.
The team scanned the Washington life mask at the Morgan Library in New York, a mask made from the bust at the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington and the complete set of dentures at Mount Vernon. Members also went to Richmond and spent four days capturing details of the statue by Houdon in 700 scans from top to bottom. The modest Washington had asked that it be made no bigger than life-size.
The researchers also are digitizing two-dimensional information from paintings and other sources that it will incorporate into the three-dimensional models. "We want to get standard reference points, such as the forehead, bridge of the nose, cheeks and eye sockets, so we can compare them for common features," Dr. Razdan said. "Then we have to write algorithms to let us manipulate the models, such as inserting dentures into the oral cavity, and seeing how they affect the shape of the face."
Dr. Schwartz said he was trying to accurately represent Washington not only in facial appearance, but also in size, shape and volume. Records indicate that Washington was about 6 feet 2 inches tall and weighed 210 to 220 pounds when he was in his 50's, Dr. Schwartz said, and descriptions indicate he had the well-muscled thighs and calves of a horseman and strong neck muscles. Part of the project includes measuring clothing Washington wore for clues about bodily dimensions, and determining how the style and cut of the clothing may have affected his outward appearance.
After the look of Washington at age 53 is fixed, then comes the hard part. "It's harder to go from old to young because of the many changes people undergo when they age," Dr. Schwartz said. Typically when people age, he said, they grow cartilage in the face, which lengthens noses and ear lobes while losing fat in their cheeks. "We have to find ways to put that back as we reverse the process," he said.
An obvious problem about Washington is his teeth, which he began losing in his 20's. By the time he was 53, he had only one natural tooth left and had spent most of his adulthood with a series of partial and full dentures, which would have affected the shape of his mouth and jaw through the loss of gum and bone, Dr. Schwartz said. For instance, in the famous Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington, used on the dollar bill, the researchers speculate that the square-jaw appearance may result from iron springs at the back of his dentures pushing out.
Once the team settles on its images of Washington by early next summer, its computer data will be used to drive milling machines at Studio EIS in New York City to make replicas from high-density foam that will be used to make molds for the final figures. Then sculptors and artists will add hair, coloring and clothing to the multi-aged Washingtons to have them ready for public viewing when Mount Vernon's new visitor complex opens at the end of 2006 to reintroduce Americans to the father of their country.
So THIS was the big story everyone was waiting for from the NY Times?!?
They had to kill the one they were working on about George Bush having been caught selling drugs to grade schoolers when he was in college, so they decided to run this one instead.
Very cool story!
BTTT
I loved the "Mount Vernon Lady's association" label below that picture. LOL Sort of a mount rushmore moment.
Ping!
Why? The fact that there were all men in the picture?
Washington as a young man was handsome but as a very young man was a bit awkward with big feet and hands.
As an inexperienced militia captain, he was the second tallest man in his regiment at six foot, one and one-half inches. But he was about five inches shorter than Peter the Great of Russia.
I didn't know he was that tall! He must have been a giant in his day.
Amazing about Peter the Great, too.
I think Houdon got it right.
I saw the bust at Mount Vernon. Too bad Houdon didn't get to sculpt The General when he was thirty or so...
He was a gifted athlete and led Lord Fairfax's hunts as a young man of just 16 years.
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