ADVERTISEMENT

Being born in the modern age, we often forget how different things were before us. People could only know what someone looked like based on an artist's subjective vision or a grainy black-and-white photo. Despite the efforts of the artists, paintings can rarely achieve the level of realism that pictures can. And thus, people often wonder how some of the most famous historical figures really looked with all of the subjectiveness removed from the image. Bas Uterwijk, a photographer from Amsterdam who has a background in computer graphics, 3D animation, and special effects, slowly but surely tries to provide the answer to this aching question.

More info: basuterwijk.com | Instagram | twitter.com

Click here & follow us for more lists, facts, and stories.

#1

Statue Of Liberty

Realistic digital portrait showing what a famous historical figure might really have looked like, created by an artist.

ganbrood Report

He started in 2019. After experimenting with Billy the Kid's photograph and seeing positive results, Uterwijk decided to try and recreate someone who lived in an era where there were no photographs. He tried Napoleon, but didn't want to share the results because they were "nice, but not perfect." About a few months ago, he came back to Napoleon and tried it once again. "The software I work with is developing fast," he thought, so he figured trying it at a later time might bring better results. You can see how his "current" Napoleon turned out in the picture below.

RELATED:
    #2

    Vincent Van Gogh

    Digital artist’s realistic portrait revealing what famous historical figure may have really looked like with detailed facial features and expression.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #3

    Fayum Mummy Portraits

    Realistic digital portrait showing a famous historical figure recreated by an artist for a glimpse of true appearance.

    ganbrood Report

    Here's what he told Bored Panda: "I think the human face hasn't changed dramatically over thousands of years and apart from hairstyles and makeup, people that lived long ago probably looked very much like us, but we are used to seeing them in the often distorted styles of ancient art forms that existed long before the invention of photography."

    #4

    David (Michelangelo)

    Realistic digital portrait showing what a famous historical figure might have really looked like based on artist's detailed reconstruction.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #5

    Jesus Christ

    Realistic digital portrait showing what a famous historical figure could have really looked like, based on artist reconstructions.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT

    He started experimenting with creating images by using generative adversarial neural networks, because he thinks it will one day be the "successor to photography." "These 'Deep Learning' networks are trained with thousands of photographs of human faces and are able to create near-photorealistic people from scratch or fit uploaded faces in a 'Latent Space' of a total of everything the model has learned."

    #6

    Napoleon

    Realistic artist depiction of famous historical figure Napoleon Bonaparte revealing what he really looked like.

    ganbrood Report

    #7

    Rembrandt

    Realistic artist rendering giving a glimpse of what famous historical figures really looked like in detailed portrait style.

    ganbrood Report

    #8

    Billy The Kid

    Side-by-side images showing a historical figure’s original photo and artist’s realistic modern rendition glimpse.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    ADVERTISEMENT

    Artbreeder, Bas's program of choice, uses artificial intelligence and neural networks to create near-photorealistic images based on his input combined with what it knows about how faces look and how light behaves in photography. "I try to do everything as procedural as possible and let the AI do the most work, but sometimes I need to cheat a little in Photoshop because these GANs don't do clothes or classical hairstyles yet."

    #9

    Frankenstein's Monster

    Realistic digital portrait showing what a famous historical figure might have really looked like, artist's detailed recreation.

    ganbrood Report

    #10

    Sandro Botticelli

    Realistic digital portrait of a young historical figure wearing a red cap, showcasing famous historical figures' true appearances.

    ganbrood Report

    #11

    Niccolò Machiavelli

    Realistic artist rendition of a famous historical figure showing what 20 popular figures really looked like.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT

    "Although I see my creations more as artistic impressions than as scientifically justified, in some cases, the results for me feel much closer to reality than most other methods that are used in reconstructions of people so far," Bas expressed. They say that a portrait artist's main goal isn't getting the little details right, but capturing the "essence" of the person's character. Do you think Bas has managed to achieve that? Tell us in the comments!

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #12

    Fayum Mummy Portraits

    Digital portrait artwork giving a glimpse of what a famous historical figure really looked like, showcasing realistic details.

    ganbrood Report

    #13

    George Washington

    Realistic digital portrait showing what a famous historical figure may have really looked like, based on artist’s depiction.

    ganbrood Report

    #14

    Fayum Mummy Portraits

    Realistic digital portrait showing an imagined glimpse of a famous historical figure by the artist.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #15

    Fayum Mummy Portraits

    Realistic digital portrait showing what a famous historical figure might have really looked like, created by an artist.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #16

    Doomguy

    Progression of digital artwork showing a famous historical figure with realistic facial features and skin textures.

    ganbrood Report

    #17

    Elizabeth I, Queen Of England

    Realistic digital portrait of a famous historical figure by an artist offering a glimpse of what they really looked like.

    ganbrood Report

    #18

    Jan Van Eyck

    Realistic digital portrait showing what a famous historical figure might have really looked like, artist recreation.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #19

    Sandro Botticelli

    Realistic artist rendering showing a glimpse of what a famous historical figure really looked like in detailed portrait.

    ganbrood Report

    ADVERTISEMENT
    #20

    Alfred E. Newman (Mad Magazine)

    Close-up of a red-haired boy with freckles smiling, a digital artist's glimpse of famous historical and popular figures reimagined.

    ganbrood Report