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The true face of Beethoven has been revealed almost 200 years after his death – and it's every bit as 'intimidating' as his reputation suggests.
Despite his status as one of history's great composers, Beethoven is also remembered for his surly disposition and unkempt appearance.
It's a reputation often reflected in his portraits, which invariably depict him as an unsmiling man with an icy gaze.
Now a scientific reconstruction of his face has revealed what he actually looked like – and it seems he really did look that grumpy.
Cicero Moraes, lead author of the new study, has completed the first ever reconstruction of the composer's appearance based on his skull.
'I found the face somewhat intimidating,' he admitted.
To complete the work, Mr Moraes used historical photographs of the musician's skull provided by the Beethoven House in Bonn, Germany.
The face we all associate with Beethoven...
...and the new reconstruction.... not a great deal of difference in fact a little improvement I think
Along with the images, which were taken by Johann Batta Rottmayer in 1863, he used measurement data collected in 1888.
He said: 'The facial approximation was guided solely by the skull.
'First I created 2D outlines – frontal and lateral – from the skull photographs.
'Then I modelled the skull in 3D using a virtual donor's tomography, adjusted to match the photos' proportions.
'I then added soft tissue thickness markers based on data from living Europeans, projected the nose, and traced the facial profile.
'I interpolated all these projections to form the basic face.'
With the objective face complete, Mr Moraes added subjective features like clothes and hair, using as his guide a famous portrait of Beethoven painted in 1820 by Joseph Karl Stieler.
Finally, some of the finer details were enhanced with an AI tool.
Beethoven's true face is revealed for the first time in 200 YEARS
Despite his status as one of history's great composers, Beethoven is also remembered for his surly disposition and unkempt appearance.
It's a reputation often reflected in his portraits, which invariably depict him as an unsmiling man with an icy gaze.
Now a scientific reconstruction of his face has revealed what he actually looked like – and it seems he really did look that grumpy.
Cicero Moraes, lead author of the new study, has completed the first ever reconstruction of the composer's appearance based on his skull.
'I found the face somewhat intimidating,' he admitted.
To complete the work, Mr Moraes used historical photographs of the musician's skull provided by the Beethoven House in Bonn, Germany.
The face we all associate with Beethoven...
...and the new reconstruction.... not a great deal of difference in fact a little improvement I think
Along with the images, which were taken by Johann Batta Rottmayer in 1863, he used measurement data collected in 1888.
He said: 'The facial approximation was guided solely by the skull.
'First I created 2D outlines – frontal and lateral – from the skull photographs.
'Then I modelled the skull in 3D using a virtual donor's tomography, adjusted to match the photos' proportions.
'I then added soft tissue thickness markers based on data from living Europeans, projected the nose, and traced the facial profile.
'I interpolated all these projections to form the basic face.'
With the objective face complete, Mr Moraes added subjective features like clothes and hair, using as his guide a famous portrait of Beethoven painted in 1820 by Joseph Karl Stieler.
Finally, some of the finer details were enhanced with an AI tool.
Beethoven's true face is revealed for the first time in 200 YEARS
