Bonnie Prince Charlie’s face has been recreated using death masks, depicting him as he looked during the Jacobite Rising of 1745.
Known for his good looks, Prince has captured the interest of a new generation with his TV show Outlander.
A team from the University of Dundee’s Center for Anatomy and Human Identity has created what is said to be the most lifelike replica of the prince’s face to date.
He looks as if he’d seen the time of the Jacobite rising, with blond ringlets, a white shirt, and blotchy patches on his skin—his failed attempt to restore his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, to the British throne. .
Prince’s death masks were photographed and mapped by researchers so 3D models could be made with sophisticated software, allowing experts to deduce Prince’s age.
Master’s student Barbora Vesela, who initiated the project, said: „I looked at previous reconstructions of historical figures and was interested in how this could be done differently.
„I wanted to create an image of what he would have looked like during the Jacobite Rising. Bonnie Prince Charlie’s death masks are accessible, some in private collections.
„We also know he had a stroke before he died, so the age regression process was even more interesting to me.”
In 1745, at the age of 24, Prince Charles Edward Stuart attempted to reclaim the Great British throne for his father, the exiled King James III of England and Ireland and VIII of Scotland.
Despite some initial successes on the battlefield, his army was defeated by government forces at the Battle of Culloden near Inverness in April 1746.
Bonnie Prince Charlie spent the next five months as a fugitive before escaping to France and living on the continent for the rest of his life. His efforts created one of the most romantic periods in Scottish history.
When the prince died after a stroke at the Palazzo Mutti in Rome, aged 67, a cast was taken of his face, which was common for notables at the time.
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The researchers examined copies of the masks at Inverness Museum and Art Gallery and the Hunterian at the University of Glasgow, creating a composite over several months.
Vesela took photographs from all the masks and used photogrammetry software to establish a 3D model using nearly 500 images.
He said: “It’s a pleasure to work with these works of art. The access I was given was incredible. There are moments when you work with masks that suddenly strike you as a person who was once alive.
„Beauty is a very subjective thing, but there are unique features like Pony Prince Charlie’s nose and eyes that encourage you to read him. I hope this entertainment will encourage people to think of him as a person rather than a legend.
The work will be featured as part of the University of Dundee’s annual postgraduate program, which opens to the public on Saturday.