15 Side-By-Side Portraits Of Famous Historical Figures And Their Direct Descendants
Fueled by his passion for history, photographer Drew Gardner recreated portraits of some of the world's most famous historical figures, featuring their direct descendants as models.
Getting ready for the series required much more than a few phone calls. Not only did Gardner carry out in-depth research tracing the direct descendants and verifying their lineage, but he also created sets with painstaking attention to the smallest of details. In the end, however, all of the hard work paid off. Sourcing the period costumes and props created such authentic backgrounds, they look like something straight out of a history book. Gardner even carefully analyzed the lighting in each original portrait and patiently recreated them as closely as possible, using all kinds of gear and techniques.
The end result is something that you'd find in the 'different but same' category. Of course, in a totally good way.
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Thomas Jefferson (Left), 1800 And Shannon Lanier (Right) Sixth Great-Grandson Of Thomas Jefferson
This is awesome! The history guides/docents at Jefferson's famed "Monticello" still turn colors and stutter if you ask a blunt question about Sally Hemings. If you don't know, look it up... Their white-marble-statue man must never be associated with anything but the Declaration!... So I visit there every other year and when they ask if we have questions, I ask, "Where did Sally Hemings and her kids by Jefferson sleep?" :-)
One of Sally Hemings descendants works at Monticello now as one of the historians.
Load More Replies...Quick history lesson: Sally Hemings was a biracial slave who at 14 was more or less forced into a relationship with the then 40-year-old Jefferson. She bore him at least five children. Meanwhile Jefferson spent most of his life declaring that relationships between blacks and whites "produced degradation" and that white women were more beautiful than black women. (Stamped from the Beginning, Ibram X. Lendio) Real swell dude.
Why is this getting downvoted? Poor sally was forced to live in a dungeon under the sweltering hot kitchen while being raped by Jefferson. His own kids were indentured servants to his household as well. Sick gross man.
Load More Replies...I live right down the road from Monticello and can tell you when I first went in 2008 or maybe the next year they didn't talk about Sally. My kids classes went every year. And I would always go. Things are different now. There is now a museum thing for kids to interactive experience what kid slaves went through. The Jeffersons and Hemmings have been having reunions for years too. Google it.
Yeah, I'm in Charlottesville, and I got a real Old School docent in 2019.
Load More Replies...Thomas Jefferson's LIFE mask might be a better comparison as the life mask is an exact copy of his head. https://yarbs.net/life-mask-reconstructions/ thomas-jef...381087.jpg
Is there some agenda here by using a black descendant of his? We all know he had children with Sally Hemings in addition to his late wife. Seems like you're trying to make some negative statement about Jefferson.
Our guides were informative about the Hemings and knew all about it. They know people want to know what really happened there.
Why does the grandson look like a young version of Denzel Washington?
With the DNA evidence that they have...yes, yes it is. You DO know DNA doesn't lie, right?
Load More Replies...Is Monticello part of the National Park Service? If it is, there are limits as to what the employees can and can't say... even if it is a confirmed fact. The feds don't want to deny or endorse certain things.
Years ago, on What's My Line?" there was another direct descendant of Thomas Jefferson who looked exactly like him and I knew it as soon as he came onstage.
And the Sally Hemmings truth continues to be denied....
Load More Replies...That strong jaw-line and chin! Seems to be a dominant trait, after six or seven generations.
Hard to see a resemblance after all those generations, but I definitely see two men of great character, intelligence, and imagination. I don't know how I see it but I do...
Would love the descendancy chart for this - and the other family members - otherwise it could simply be 'fake news' (e.g., a 'news' media posted a picture of how a direct descendant of Abraham Lincoln looked 'today' and that was fake - Lincoln has NO living direct descendants!)
I can claim to be someone's descendant too, doesn't make it true. Unless there has been DNA testing done, who really knows?
Even though we don't know if Thomas or another Jefferson was the actual father,his eyes,mouth,and chin are crazy similar!
We DO know. Sally told us, multiple times. There are those that chose not to believe her, but that is another denial for another day.....
Load More Replies...Because not everything is as clear cut as we like to think: https://www.npr.org/2020/06/29/884634146/the-founding-contradiction-thomas-jeffersons-stance-on-slavery
First: "His character". Thomas Jefferson's associations with scholars doesn't mean he didn't have sex with a slave. There's no logic to that. His public person and his private one were separate. Second: Randolph lived 20 miles from Monticello. In that era, that was not a quick trip. We also can't confirm Randolph was around Hemings during the times her children would have been conceived. Third: Thomas Jefferson's own records are oddly blank about paternity. Fourth: Thomas was at Monticello more than his brother. Proximity. Fifth: Sally was, by race, majority European race, and very fair. Her children passed as white. That indicates she would have been far more likely a "choice" for a concubine by *any* male of the time. Thomas included. Finally: Such liaisons were often kept "at home", that is, where one lived ----- making it likely Randolph Jefferson kept his behavior at home, and out of his brother's, and vice versa. The idea holds up. It isn't palatable to some, but it holds up.
Load More Replies...You could say the series began 15 years ago when Gardner's mother told him that he looked a lot like his grandfather. "It got me thinking if I [really] looked like my grandfather and if people alive today would bear any resemblance to famous forebears," the photographer told Bored Panda.
There are a number of criteria based on which Gardner chooses the photos he's going to recreate but the more iconic an image is, the better. "It is important that no matter what the person’s achievement that there is a degree of recognition or familiarity. This is not always possible but it is my starting point."
Charles Dickens (Left), 1858 And Gerald Charles Dickens (Right) Dickens's, Great-Great-Grandson
The Internet helps Gardner track down the descendants, but he also works with genealogists and museums. The true magic, however, happens when the photographer starts working with his models. The whole process allows Gardner to form strong connections with the people standing in front of his camera. "Any human connection tends to come about from conversation, so it is more as a result of the dialogue between the two of us in the days, weeks, months or even years running up to the shoot which gives me a 'window' to them as a person and when they expand on their understanding of their forebear, it does deepen the mutual understanding and connection we have, which clearly helps when it comes to the shoot," Gardner explained.
"Sometimes through the viewfinder, I feel a flash of recognition, though I am never sure if it is wishful thinking or more." As for the resemblance, Gardner leaves the viewer to make up their own mind on that. "I do not set out to say that the descendant does or does not look like their forebear."
Emeline Pankhurst (Left) And Helen Pankhurst (Right) The Great-Granddaughter Of Emeline Pankhurst
Napoleon (Left), 1812 And Hugo De Salis (Right) The Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandson Of Napoleon
Oliver Cromwell (Left), 1653-1654 And Charles Bush (Right) The Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandson Of Oliver Cromwell
Frederick Douglass (Left), 1863 And Reuben L. Andrews (Right)
Charles II (Left), 1653 And Lord Charles Fitzroy (Right) The 9 Times Great-Grandson Of Charles II
Liza De Giocondo (The Mona Lisa) (Left) And Irina Guicciardini Strozzi (Right) The 15 Times Great Granddaughter Of Liza De Giocondo
Berthe Morisot (Left), 1872 And Lucie Rouart (Right) The Great-Granddaughter Of Berthe Morisot
Arthur Wellesley 1st Duke Of Wellingston (Left), 1824 And Jeremy Clyde (Right) The Great-Great-Great-Grandson Of The 1st Duke Of Wellington
Elizabeth Cady Stanton (Left), 1850 And Elizabeth Jenkins-Sahlin (Right)
William Wordsworth (Left), 1798 Andtom Wontner (Right) Wordsworth's Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandson
Horatio Nelson (Left), 1800 And William John Raglan Horatio Tribe (Right) Nelson's Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandson
Isambard Kingdom Brunel, 1857 (Left) And Isambard Thomas (Right), Brunel's Great-Great-Great-Grandson
Clive Of India, Robert Clive, 1773 (Left) And Robert Holden (Right) The Great-Great-Great-Great-Great-Grandson Of Clive Of India
The major difference: Clive of India likely didn't have teeth...
I wonder how much the matching clothes and backgrounds effect our perception. I tried hard to ignore them and just concentrate on the faces.
Yes, once you get past a 3x great grandparent, that DNA is pretty diluted. Unless some of your ancestors married their cousins and doubled up on some strands, you're getting about 3% or less from the famous ancestor.
Load More Replies...I am a descendant of Harriet Beecher-Stowe, who wrote Uncle Toms Cabln. And of Francis Scott Key who wrote The Star Spangled Banner.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't know who ~half of these people were.
Yes, it would have been helpful, if the original poster had included a brief bio as to who they all were.
Load More Replies...Several of these look nothing like their ancestors except for the outfits.
I love this post and just really interested in things like this. I just wonder sometimes, who stood where I am standing, who lived in my home before I did. And I wonder about my ancestors, about their personalities, etc.
I wonder whether I resemble any relative of mine from the first century.
We also have to remember that the painted portrait depends greatly on the artistic ability of the painter. Faces are notoriously difficult to paint & not every artist has this talent. Plus there is often a lot of....artistic licence going on. To make it as a portrait artist, it helps if you are flattering to the subject! Queen Victoria was absolutely massive in her later years but you would never know as in every known portrait artists would shave many pounds off of her figure to stay in her favour. Her remaining clothing told the truth though!
I'm so jealous of people who can trace their families back that far. There are so many adoptions in my family that I can't trace anyone past my grandparents and one great grandparent.
People see what they want to see, most of these bear no resemblance whatsoever except the obvious clothes, hair and facial expressions.
I'm related to Ronnie Waldman, who married Lana Morris, a famous British actress in the 20th century.
charles 2nd had 21 children from all of his mistresses camilla parker bowles is a descendant as was princess diana
It would depend on which ancestor you picked as to how much I resembled them. Some I don't resemble at all, others very much so. Did they pick the descendant who bore the most resemblance for these pictures?
I am a descendant of my father, but you can hardly see it now...
Sorry to bust the bubble. but the only thing that DNA tests confirmed was that one of Sally Hemming's children (Eston) shared DNA with a Jefferson male. No proof of who it was - there were several possibilities - and definitely no proof that it was Thomas Jefferson.
I was very impressed by the pains taken to replicate the original likeness. This is an interesting article. It's apparent that a lot of work went into this project.
My great-great-great-great grandfather is Chaim Weizmann, the 1st President Of Israel
I had an ancestor named Arthur Adams, who was apparently a rather well-to-do steel merchant back in the UK. We have a well preserved black and white photograph of him, and he looks *exactly* like my grandfather. You can see my mother in him as well, especially around the eyes and nose. It's uncanny.
I wonder how much the matching clothes and backgrounds effect our perception. I tried hard to ignore them and just concentrate on the faces.
Yes, once you get past a 3x great grandparent, that DNA is pretty diluted. Unless some of your ancestors married their cousins and doubled up on some strands, you're getting about 3% or less from the famous ancestor.
Load More Replies...I am a descendant of Harriet Beecher-Stowe, who wrote Uncle Toms Cabln. And of Francis Scott Key who wrote The Star Spangled Banner.
I'm embarrassed to admit that I didn't know who ~half of these people were.
Yes, it would have been helpful, if the original poster had included a brief bio as to who they all were.
Load More Replies...Several of these look nothing like their ancestors except for the outfits.
I love this post and just really interested in things like this. I just wonder sometimes, who stood where I am standing, who lived in my home before I did. And I wonder about my ancestors, about their personalities, etc.
I wonder whether I resemble any relative of mine from the first century.
We also have to remember that the painted portrait depends greatly on the artistic ability of the painter. Faces are notoriously difficult to paint & not every artist has this talent. Plus there is often a lot of....artistic licence going on. To make it as a portrait artist, it helps if you are flattering to the subject! Queen Victoria was absolutely massive in her later years but you would never know as in every known portrait artists would shave many pounds off of her figure to stay in her favour. Her remaining clothing told the truth though!
I'm so jealous of people who can trace their families back that far. There are so many adoptions in my family that I can't trace anyone past my grandparents and one great grandparent.
People see what they want to see, most of these bear no resemblance whatsoever except the obvious clothes, hair and facial expressions.
I'm related to Ronnie Waldman, who married Lana Morris, a famous British actress in the 20th century.
charles 2nd had 21 children from all of his mistresses camilla parker bowles is a descendant as was princess diana
It would depend on which ancestor you picked as to how much I resembled them. Some I don't resemble at all, others very much so. Did they pick the descendant who bore the most resemblance for these pictures?
I am a descendant of my father, but you can hardly see it now...
Sorry to bust the bubble. but the only thing that DNA tests confirmed was that one of Sally Hemming's children (Eston) shared DNA with a Jefferson male. No proof of who it was - there were several possibilities - and definitely no proof that it was Thomas Jefferson.
I was very impressed by the pains taken to replicate the original likeness. This is an interesting article. It's apparent that a lot of work went into this project.
My great-great-great-great grandfather is Chaim Weizmann, the 1st President Of Israel
I had an ancestor named Arthur Adams, who was apparently a rather well-to-do steel merchant back in the UK. We have a well preserved black and white photograph of him, and he looks *exactly* like my grandfather. You can see my mother in him as well, especially around the eyes and nose. It's uncanny.