Ever since I was a child, I have been fascinated by historical facts and archaeology. I think humans perceive the past as a series of events; something like a movie that we can’t really feel or touch. I believe the things that bring us closer to the past are those that truly humanize us - the bodies from Pompeii, the perfectly preserved Inca mummies, the personal objects of long-gone historical figures, and more.
I’ve always thought how incredible it would be to see historical events and the famous people the way they actually happened and the way they actually looked. I started Royalty Now in February of 2019, simply as a way for me to see my favorite historical figure, Anne Boleyn, as a woman of modern times. I wanted to know if she could come to life from the few pale, flat portraits we have of her. I started the account to satisfy my own curiosity about what those interesting people of the past would look like if they were standing right in front of me. I’m incredibly thankful for the support and interest the account has received, and can’t wait to see what happens next with other historical people.
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Nefertiti
"This bust of Nefertiti (believed to have been sculpted during her lifetime) is famous for its grace and beauty. Nefertiti lived from approximately 1370 - 1330 BC. She was an Egyptian queen and the wife of Akhenaten, an Egyptian Pharaoh. Akhenaten is famous for his attempt to transition Egypt into a monotheistic society (worshipping only the sun god, Aten), instead of a polytheistic one."
Queen Elizabeth I
Alexander The Great
"I did some research on his looks and it is recorded that he had curly golden hair and heterochromia (one eye blue and one eye brown or a combo of both), so he was definitely a striking figure."
his neck definitely would not be that effeminate what are you trying to do here ?
Oh I see! I apologize you're doing them as if they lived today! My bad!
Shame he died so young, would've turned into a very handsome middle aged man
he had I think a colored eye but its pretty good just a little less wavy hair and maybe slightly longer just dont make it too much like the sun god.
You've missed a bit of necessary further reading however: Caesar is also recorded as going bald early in his life. The hair on the sculpture used her was purposely styled to recall Alexander the Great's tousled locks. It was a propaganda device common to Roman political sculptures of prominent leaders of his time, and can be seen in similar busts of Caesar's rival Pompey and his adopted son Augustus.
dude, lets get some doritos and thrash it out in Battlefield V on xbox
No. The human only generally fits the bust. The human head's too oblong. The bust's head is more egg-shaped, for want of a better word. They were too busy trying to match the eyes and hair color.
His hair should be longer He looks like a 21st Century 20 year old! Otherwise your job is pure perfection. Handsomely executed!
This is going to sound way weird, but this looks like Noah Mac. He was on the Voice. You can find his current work on you tube. Gives me the chills...
There is a better Hellenistic portrait of Alexander. Why wasn't that used instead of this weird one ?
No offense, but he honestly looks creepy as heck. I would be a bit weirded out it I saw that today.
The hair looks wrong - too modern cut, when it looks like the bust has more hair at the sides and not just the top.
But this new image looks like very young and someone as that powerful can't look like this. His cheeks are bit different also the eyes.
I'm sure he didn't look that good after years of campaigning, hard-drinking, battle injuries, blows to the head and massacring his way across the middle east.
Alexander was very temperate with alcool and everything and it's said he's never been injured in the face or on the back in his life.
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In one account Alexander is described as fair haired. In another, that he made his hair golden with saffron. And there are a surprising number of ancient Greeks mythological figures described as blonde, including Helen, Achilles and Athena. It is certainly a colour they associated with beauty at the time.
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Aye, I pposted above, but it seems to have disapeared. It looks like a bloody queer boy to me. Must be from California.
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Agrippina The Younger
"Agrippina the Younger is someone I only recently learned more about but she had a crazy life. She was the sister of Emperor Caligula and the mother of Emperor Nero. I highly recommend giving her a search if you’re interested in that era of Roman history!"
Mary, Queen Of Scots
Love that you can see the resemblence between Mary and her cousin Elizabeth I!
Madame De Pompadour
"Jeanne Antoinette Poisson, better known as Madame de Pompadour. She first caught the eye of Louis XV at a masked ball in 1745 (it was said that she was dressed as a domino, and he was dressed as a plant) and was his chief mistress thereafter until 1751. Even after she was no longer Louis' mistress, she was a trusted friend, confidante, and advisor, essentially becoming one of the most powerful women at the French court until her death in 1764."
Empress Elisabeth Of Austria
"During her life, Elisabeth (known as Sisi), was known for being beautiful, smart, rebellious and passionate. Definitely worth some digging into if you are interested in late 1800s Europe."
Katherine Of Aragon
"This portrait of Katherine of Aragon, wife of King Henry VIII and Queen of England from 1509-1533, has always been my favorite. There are several portraits of her that all range in looks, so it’s hard to tell her true likeness. I think this one captures her piety, meekness, and obedience as documented by historians."
Louis XV
"Louis XV is lesser known than his predecessor the Sun King and his heir, Louis XVI, but he was the second-longest reigning monarch in French history. I have always known him by his famous mistresses, Madame De Pompadour and Madame du Barry."
Catherine Parr
"She was the only wife to outlive the king, who was tyrannical in his last years."
Anne of Cleves outlived him as well. She got the best deal: Henry VIII annulled the marriage within a year, gave her some nice properties, a title, and honorary membership to the family as "the King's Beloved Sister" (invitations to court without the hassle of being married to someone toxic).
The Grand Duchess Anastasia Romanov
Queen Isabella Of Castile
"Queen Isabella of Castile, partner to Ferdinand II of Aragon and the queen who sent Columbus on his way to the “new world” in 1492. "
Emperor Augustus
"Emperor Augustus (born Octavius, the great-nephew of Julius Caesar) was the first emperor of Rome, ending 500 years of republic. He’s an incredibly controversial figure, especially due to the smart and ruthless way he came to power, but he ruled over a time of relative peace in the Roman empire."
Abraham Lincoln
"Abe Lincoln was the 16th president of the United States from March 1861 until his assassination in April 1865. Lincoln led the nation through the American Civil War, its bloodiest war and its greatest moral, constitutional, and political crisis. He preserved the Union, abolished slavery, strengthened the federal government, and modernized the U.S. economy."
Christina Of Denmark
"Christina of Denmark, seen here in an original Hans Holbein portrait, lived from 1521 - 1590. Christina was considered as a possible bride for King Henry VIII of England. Christina was not fond of the English King's reputation, given that he had divorced his first wife and beheaded his second wife. The originator of one of the greatest quotes about King Henry in history, Christina famously said: "If I had two heads, one should be at the King of England's disposal." What an amazing denial to a marriage proposal."
Katherine Howard
"Katherine Howard (c. 1523 – 13 February 1542) was Queen of England for only 16 months as the fifth wife of Henry VIII. Katherine was actually the cousin of Henry's second wife, Anne Boleyn. When they married, he was 49 and she only 16 or 17. Katherine was accused of adultery and executed by the King, ending her short reign as the Queen of England."
Eleanor Of Toledo
"Eleanor of Toledo was an astonishing woman. Originally from Toledo, Spain, she was a bride to a famous member of the Medici Family, Cosimo I de Medici. Her husband regularly consulted with her on matters of politics, and she even served as consort during his time away from Florence."
Madame Du Barry
"This is Madame du Barry - the official mistress of Louis XV after his first love, Madame de Pompadour’s death."
Caligula
"Caligula, infamous brat and Roman Emperor."
You could have just postet a picture of Jack Gleeson (Joffrey Baratheon in Game of Thrones). They look pretty much alike.
Napoleon
"Did you know that Napoleon was most likely 5'7"? That's taller than King Louis XIV. Some say his perceived smaller stature was due to him looking small in comparison to his huge accomplishments. Others say there was an error when translating his true height from French to English. Who do you think he looks like here?"
Benjamin Franklin
King Henry VII
"Here we are with Henry VII, the first tudor monarch, a frequent request from you all. Henry was the last king of England to attain the throne in battle after defeating Richard III at the Battle of Bosworth Field in 1485."
Thank God for Princess Di and Kate Middleton. Inbreeding leads to so much ugliness. 😁
Mona Lisa
Close, but if I met the likeness, I'm not sure the first thing I would think of is Mona Lisa. The shape of the face is not quite right and her expression lacks the subtlety of the original.
Grace Kelly
"Grace Kelly, American film actress and Princess of Monaco."
Anne Of Cleves
"Another of Henry VIII's wives (arguably the luckiest of the six), this portrait really shows the beauty of Anne of Cleves. The reputation she earned after being rejected by the King was completely unearned in my opinion."
Prince Albert
"Prince Albert, shown here at age 21 and painted by John Partridge in 1840. Albert was the Prince Consort to Queen Victoria for 22 years, resulting in 9 children and a massive dynasty that would eventually extend to many of the royal houses in Europe."
Ingrid Bergman
"Not exactly royalty....but definitely Hollywood royalty. Academy award-winning actress Ingrid Bergman."
Just take a photo of Izabella Rossellino, het daughter, it looks exact like the photo on the right.
Jane Seymour
"Jane Seymour was the third wife of Henry VIII, and the only one to give him a living son and heir."
Wallis Simpson
"Wallis Simpson was the American socialite and divorcée at the heart of the Abdication Crisis that caused King Edward VIII to give up the throne. This unlikely turn of events is the reason Queen Elizabeth II rules today, as her father (George VI) stepped in to take Edward’s place as king."
Julie Andrews
"Julie Andrews is a Hollywood ICON and star of one of my favorites, the Sound of Music."
I don't what to sound like an a*s but somebody is using this site to practice their photoshop skills and they are not doing a great job.
You don't sound like an a*s. These are simply terrible.
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It kinda looks like that face-swapping app and it's very badly executed ☹️
Unfortunately most of these would not be accurate. Most sculptures and paintings drastically altered how the individuals looked, in most cases to make them look better, because they had abnormalities due to incest, scars, etc or they weren't very attractive. Unless you took the bones of the individual and recreated their facial structure, that is the only way to really know, and even that isn't totally accurate.
Exactly. And there’s been no allowance made for the many “improvements” the artists imposed on their portraits which were simply “fashionable” at the time - like all the tiny rose-bud mouths, overly long noses and too-large eyes. Many of the facial proportions are stuffed up. Just popping a modern wig on an old portrait of dodgy veracity is plainly ridiculous. I was hoping to see some accurate forensic reconstructions based on the skulls or even death masks of the subjects.
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Overall I am not pleased with these. The artist took liberties that she shouldn't have done. Giving them a slimmer face, slimmer neckline and elongating their faces makes them look cartoonish in quite a few of the recreations. To bring them more "up-to-date", changing their clothing and hairstyles should have been the only changes made to each of them.
I didn't want to be negative which is why my original comment was "..." but most people have said what I was going to say anyway.
These looked like real people in the paintings, but the edited versions are seriously uncanny valley.
I agree. The angle of the painting/sculpture faces don't always match the photo they're put into, either.
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A lot of the face shapes changed a lot, and there was too much straightening of the hair, a lot of which would have still been pretty tight after even modern straightening.
Although tight ringlets was the fashion of the time. Many had straight hair naturally.
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I'm getting that women should not have curly hair vibe from this collection...
Pretty neat! Hope to see what Jesus, Emperor Qin or Genghis Khan might look like today.
I was crestfallen when I dropped my toothpaste.
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Don’t take this offensive but these don’t look very realistic, photoshop skills need to be a little more practiced. Pretty much what Giovanni said.
Am I the only one who tried to figure out who the faces were photoshopped on to? 😂😂😂
It would have been better not to use live body shots with drawn faces. It just looks so weird and artificial. I stopped looking after the first dozen.
I believe this was a great job, regardless of the images being accurate or not, photoshop practice or not... It was just simply interesting to see how these characters from history would look like if they had been our contemporaries, I would actually love to see more like this...
Most of these all just look like you slapped the painting/sculpture's face onto a random person. I don't want to be rude but I think this could've been done way better. I would've liked to look at one of these and think: 'Hey, that looks real, like I could actually see them looking like that.' sadly that's not the case.
Nice, too bad they're all European or European origin. Why not some reconstructions of Buddha, Shah Jehan (contemporary of queeen Elizabeth, built the Taj Mahal) or Omar Khayyam?
Do we have verified portraits of them? I think that was the deciding factor...
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It's fun. Who cares if it's accurate? I would think that today, many men would be sporting mustaches, stubble, goatees, or beards, though.
That portrait is no more Katherine Parr than I am. The portrait is another of Elizabeth 1st.
Alright, yes, the photoshopping isin't "on point" and everything. But this person still tried, please try and cool this hate. I would like to see all of us do better. 😭
Jeesh it's annoying reading comment sections any more. Everyone acts like they have every answer to every question NEVER asked. Guess what? NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU THINK . Not to mention the majority of comments in most comment sections are usually negative in regards to perceived errors and what "should have" been done. If people would just pull their heads out of their own a$$e$ and actually learn something or count to 10 and try to understand what you're reading before making assumptions in the form of directive opinions passed of as psuedo factual. YES YOU!
Look why don't all of you who don't like these try to do them yourself and publish them here. I would love to see the results!!
I think it’s clever. I didn’t expect historical accuracy; you’d need a skull for that and an expensive scientific process. But as the author wrote of Catherine of Aragon, there are many depictions of these historical figures. It’s clever and interesting to take a portrait and put it in a modern context. It really changes the appearance, even though you can match up the face to the old portrait, feature to feature.
nice to see that someone´s interested in history and archaeology, but let me tell you, that history is definitely not perceived as a series of events by historians, neither as a character´s story arcs.. Well done though
I love these and this overall concept. My only real gripe is that all of the women have long, flowing hair, whereas many if not most modern women in our culturehave short hair of some kind. (As some-one who personally has long flowing hair, it gets commented on a lot be-cause many people just don't see that so often these days ) I'd love to see more modern haircuts on some of these historical women.
So.. Putting painted faces on real peoples bodies using photoshop, counts as headline news these days? Well, do I have some news for you then! I got loads of news!
So putting a drawings face on a real persons body, using photoshop, is frontpage news these days? Well, do I have some news for you then!
I actually enjoyed flicking through them. Sometimes I thought they could have got it better, but mostly it is a fascinating insight. Thank you.
im sorry but my weeb a*s gotta do this. CAESAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!
Nefertiti could not have been Black sub-Sahara African. There was not a Black African population in Egypt. She might have come from the areas known today as Iran, Turkey, etc., but not sub-Sahara Africa. https://www.yahoo.com/news/whos-mummy-genetic-secrets-ancient-egypt-unwrapped-192854972.html
Unless there was Kush in the gene pool. There were black Pharoahs...
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Fine arts, that's something good to spend time with historical facts. Thankyou for the read.
I mean would have been nice to see some people of color.... 😩 diversity made up our past and all we get is whitewashed garbage?
There was no diversity in Medieval Europe. This batch is all from then (except for Grace Kelly.)
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Brilliant -but mostly the faces have been narrowed and elongated, loved them though.
These can't be taken at face value - in Greek & Roman days, sculptures were all very similar, later on, the same happened with painting, there was a style for each era, especially in the 1400's & 1500's. Only much later a more naturalistic style developed. Most of Holbein's models looked similar, also Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc.
Incorrect. Both Julius Caesar and Caligula were well known for their blond hair. Dark hair was extremely rare in the Italian Pennisula before the Moorish occupation.
These pics are either of people that few of us have heard of, or just shoved today's clothes on an old painting. Pointless
If you didn't know at least 70% of them, you've got some serious catching up to do
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Lighten up, geez! It was fun. Photoshop is here to stay, hate it or not. 🙄
We like photoshop but they don't know how to use it.
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Paintings NEVER truly looked like the actual individual...so unfortunately... someone's time was greatly wasted on Photoshop
Most of the royals pictured all looked a little downsy on the eyes. I guess that can be expected when ya have uncle/brothers and such. Spent to much time in the shallow end of the gene pool. If it werent for the occasional butler or servant knocking up one of them the gene pool would have dried up into some real hills have eyes kind of sh@t.
Nefertiti and Caesar were great.. and then it kind of went downhill from there.
Some of these are very poor...while most are passable. Nothing exceptional to view.
Nearly all the men (and some of the women) have got large noses. Maybe we'd have more too if it weren't for plastic surgery?
I don't what to sound like an a*s but somebody is using this site to practice their photoshop skills and they are not doing a great job.
You don't sound like an a*s. These are simply terrible.
Load More Replies... It kinda looks like that face-swapping app and it's very badly executed ☹️
Unfortunately most of these would not be accurate. Most sculptures and paintings drastically altered how the individuals looked, in most cases to make them look better, because they had abnormalities due to incest, scars, etc or they weren't very attractive. Unless you took the bones of the individual and recreated their facial structure, that is the only way to really know, and even that isn't totally accurate.
Exactly. And there’s been no allowance made for the many “improvements” the artists imposed on their portraits which were simply “fashionable” at the time - like all the tiny rose-bud mouths, overly long noses and too-large eyes. Many of the facial proportions are stuffed up. Just popping a modern wig on an old portrait of dodgy veracity is plainly ridiculous. I was hoping to see some accurate forensic reconstructions based on the skulls or even death masks of the subjects.
Load More Replies... Overall I am not pleased with these. The artist took liberties that she shouldn't have done. Giving them a slimmer face, slimmer neckline and elongating their faces makes them look cartoonish in quite a few of the recreations. To bring them more "up-to-date", changing their clothing and hairstyles should have been the only changes made to each of them.
I didn't want to be negative which is why my original comment was "..." but most people have said what I was going to say anyway.
These looked like real people in the paintings, but the edited versions are seriously uncanny valley.
I agree. The angle of the painting/sculpture faces don't always match the photo they're put into, either.
Load More Replies... A lot of the face shapes changed a lot, and there was too much straightening of the hair, a lot of which would have still been pretty tight after even modern straightening.
Although tight ringlets was the fashion of the time. Many had straight hair naturally.
Load More Replies... I'm getting that women should not have curly hair vibe from this collection...
Pretty neat! Hope to see what Jesus, Emperor Qin or Genghis Khan might look like today.
I was crestfallen when I dropped my toothpaste.
Load More Replies... Don’t take this offensive but these don’t look very realistic, photoshop skills need to be a little more practiced. Pretty much what Giovanni said.
Am I the only one who tried to figure out who the faces were photoshopped on to? 😂😂😂
It would have been better not to use live body shots with drawn faces. It just looks so weird and artificial. I stopped looking after the first dozen.
I believe this was a great job, regardless of the images being accurate or not, photoshop practice or not... It was just simply interesting to see how these characters from history would look like if they had been our contemporaries, I would actually love to see more like this...
Most of these all just look like you slapped the painting/sculpture's face onto a random person. I don't want to be rude but I think this could've been done way better. I would've liked to look at one of these and think: 'Hey, that looks real, like I could actually see them looking like that.' sadly that's not the case.
Nice, too bad they're all European or European origin. Why not some reconstructions of Buddha, Shah Jehan (contemporary of queeen Elizabeth, built the Taj Mahal) or Omar Khayyam?
Do we have verified portraits of them? I think that was the deciding factor...
Load More Replies... It's fun. Who cares if it's accurate? I would think that today, many men would be sporting mustaches, stubble, goatees, or beards, though.
That portrait is no more Katherine Parr than I am. The portrait is another of Elizabeth 1st.
Alright, yes, the photoshopping isin't "on point" and everything. But this person still tried, please try and cool this hate. I would like to see all of us do better. 😭
Jeesh it's annoying reading comment sections any more. Everyone acts like they have every answer to every question NEVER asked. Guess what? NO ONE CARES WHAT YOU THINK . Not to mention the majority of comments in most comment sections are usually negative in regards to perceived errors and what "should have" been done. If people would just pull their heads out of their own a$$e$ and actually learn something or count to 10 and try to understand what you're reading before making assumptions in the form of directive opinions passed of as psuedo factual. YES YOU!
Look why don't all of you who don't like these try to do them yourself and publish them here. I would love to see the results!!
I think it’s clever. I didn’t expect historical accuracy; you’d need a skull for that and an expensive scientific process. But as the author wrote of Catherine of Aragon, there are many depictions of these historical figures. It’s clever and interesting to take a portrait and put it in a modern context. It really changes the appearance, even though you can match up the face to the old portrait, feature to feature.
nice to see that someone´s interested in history and archaeology, but let me tell you, that history is definitely not perceived as a series of events by historians, neither as a character´s story arcs.. Well done though
I love these and this overall concept. My only real gripe is that all of the women have long, flowing hair, whereas many if not most modern women in our culturehave short hair of some kind. (As some-one who personally has long flowing hair, it gets commented on a lot be-cause many people just don't see that so often these days ) I'd love to see more modern haircuts on some of these historical women.
So.. Putting painted faces on real peoples bodies using photoshop, counts as headline news these days? Well, do I have some news for you then! I got loads of news!
So putting a drawings face on a real persons body, using photoshop, is frontpage news these days? Well, do I have some news for you then!
I actually enjoyed flicking through them. Sometimes I thought they could have got it better, but mostly it is a fascinating insight. Thank you.
im sorry but my weeb a*s gotta do this. CAESAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAR!!!!
Nefertiti could not have been Black sub-Sahara African. There was not a Black African population in Egypt. She might have come from the areas known today as Iran, Turkey, etc., but not sub-Sahara Africa. https://www.yahoo.com/news/whos-mummy-genetic-secrets-ancient-egypt-unwrapped-192854972.html
Unless there was Kush in the gene pool. There were black Pharoahs...
Load More Replies... Fine arts, that's something good to spend time with historical facts. Thankyou for the read.
I mean would have been nice to see some people of color.... 😩 diversity made up our past and all we get is whitewashed garbage?
There was no diversity in Medieval Europe. This batch is all from then (except for Grace Kelly.)
Load More Replies... Brilliant -but mostly the faces have been narrowed and elongated, loved them though.
These can't be taken at face value - in Greek & Roman days, sculptures were all very similar, later on, the same happened with painting, there was a style for each era, especially in the 1400's & 1500's. Only much later a more naturalistic style developed. Most of Holbein's models looked similar, also Rembrandt, Vermeer, etc.
Incorrect. Both Julius Caesar and Caligula were well known for their blond hair. Dark hair was extremely rare in the Italian Pennisula before the Moorish occupation.
These pics are either of people that few of us have heard of, or just shoved today's clothes on an old painting. Pointless
If you didn't know at least 70% of them, you've got some serious catching up to do
Load More Replies... Lighten up, geez! It was fun. Photoshop is here to stay, hate it or not. 🙄
We like photoshop but they don't know how to use it.
Load More Replies... Paintings NEVER truly looked like the actual individual...so unfortunately... someone's time was greatly wasted on Photoshop
Most of the royals pictured all looked a little downsy on the eyes. I guess that can be expected when ya have uncle/brothers and such. Spent to much time in the shallow end of the gene pool. If it werent for the occasional butler or servant knocking up one of them the gene pool would have dried up into some real hills have eyes kind of sh@t.
Nefertiti and Caesar were great.. and then it kind of went downhill from there.
Some of these are very poor...while most are passable. Nothing exceptional to view.
Nearly all the men (and some of the women) have got large noses. Maybe we'd have more too if it weren't for plastic surgery?
