The Bard of Avon’s likeness has been the subject of speculation for centuries. But scientists have now created what they claim is the “first true image” of William Shakespeare using state-of-the-art 3D technology.
In fact, the warts-and-all image of Shakespeare shows every wrinkle on the British playwright’s face and the figure’s haunted stare is radically different from the existing images which purport to be of him, the Daily Mail reported.
The image is featured in a TV documentary called Death Masks, due to be aired on the History Chan-nel on Sept. 13. Director Stuart Clarke said: “The results from this forensic examination are startling. 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 Shake-speare.” Clarke’s team has also produced 3D likenesses of French emperor Napo-leon, Julius Caesar, George Washington and Abraham Lincoln. The recreations are based on scans taken from death masks, and in some cases masks made during the subject’s life.