Death mask: The controversial new image of William Shakespeare
A Dundee-based forensic anthropologist has helped create a controversial new warts-and-all image of William Shakespeare.
Dr Caroline Wilkinson, of the University of Dundee's Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification, was part of the team who made Death Masks, a documentary to be shown on The History Channel on Monday, possible.
She carried out authentication analysis on death masks of Shakespeare, Napoleon and the notorious US gangster John Dillinger.
Dr Wilkinson and her team then used computer technology to create 3D images of these, and other, famous figures from history.
The image of Shakespeare shows every wrinkly on his face, combined with a haunted stare. It has stimulated debate because the playwright’s true likeness has been the subject of speculation for centuries.
Many experts dispute that the death mask used in the programme, found in Darmstadt, Germany, in the 1840s and linked to Shakespeare by German scientists who carried out a series of tests on it, is even his.
Dr Wilkinson was charged with analysing the mask and said the 3D image created was consistent with portraits of the writer.
She said: "The Shakespeare death mask was compared to the Cobbe portrait, the Funerary bust by Gerald Johnson from 1622, and an engraved portrait by Martin Droeshout.
"My conclusion was that there were a large number of consistencies and provided support for the assertion that the death mask is of William Shakespeare."
The team also produced 3D likenesses of Napoleon, Julius Caesar, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln.
Death Masks director Stuart Clarke said the forensic examination results were startling.
He said: "They show strong evidence both forensically and historically that this 3D model may be, in fact, the way Shakespeare looked in life. Breakthroughs in computer imaging mean we may have to rewrite the history books on Shakespeare."
