There was repeated sentiment from Napoleon’s contemporaries that portraits never seemed to quite capture his true likeness. A friend once wrote that “Probably no one that ever lived had so many likenesses…which generally bear some resemblance of feature and form. But it was extremely difficult to portray or delineate Napoleon’s look.”

Marie Antoinette is one of my all time favorite subjects. I love the modern version I created of her using one of her official portraits, but I wanted to create some in-her-own-time images that use more of her real-life appearance rather than the stylized version. It’s pretty obvious how stylized 18th century French portraits are; the huge eyes, tiny noses, and pinched lips. Full video is now up on YouTube: Royalty Now Studios.

Lady Jane Grey is a figure I’ve touched on before, and I made a modern version of her last year. We just recently made a full YouTube video about her life and appearance, check that out at Royalty Now Studios (link in bio), so I created this “in her own time” recreation for that video. I wanted to recreate her also from the Streatham portrait, which is said to be the closest possible link to Jane. It’s still disputed as a true likeness of the Nine Day Queen, but is generally accepted as a somewhat poor copy of a lost original. It dates from around 40 years after Jane’s death, and includes a “Lady Jayne” description, as well as clothing that matches Jane’s era.

Following up on Emperor Hadrian, I created a few images of his deified lover, Antinous. Their stories are completely intertwined, so check out the post on Hadrian as well as the full YouTube video about them.

Unfortunately, we don’t know much about Antinous’ life until he pops up in the history of Hadrian’s. We know that he was raised in Bithynia (modern-day Turkey). He probably met Hadrian at a young age, around 12 or 13, when Hadrian sent him to become a page and educate him in Rome.

Emperor Hadrian is a really fascinating subject I’ve been meaning to get to for a while. Emperor Hadrian was born in 76 AD, in Italica, which was a Roman province in Spain. He was only the second Emperor to be from a foreign territory. Hadrian rose to prominence in Rome, and was the favorite of Trajan and set to be the next in line for the Emperorship. He was quickly married to Trajan’s grand-niece Vibia Sabina. However, his treatment of her was quite icy. Trajan’s favor of Hadrian kind of seems to sour at this point, and the succession seems back up for grabs. Hadrian’s icy treatment of his wife can now be explained by the fact that scholars almost all agree that he was a gay man.

Nzinga is one of my favorite women in history. She lived a fascinating life that is not recounted nearly as often as it should be. I have an old version of Nzinga, but I wanted to recreate her because I don’t feel like I did the portrait justice the last time.

Here is another re-do from the archives: another massively underrated figure of history. Chevalier de Saint-Georges, born Joseph Bologne, was widely considered to be one of the most accomplished men in Europe during his lifetime, with a laundry list of talents, ranging from genius violinist to Europe’s greatest swordsman. He is known as the “Black Mozart” - but to be honest, if you learn enough about him, you may even consider Mozart to be the “White Joseph Bologne.”

What did Pocahontas look like? And what is her true history, outside of the myths and legends that have circulated in our imaginations for centuries? A new video separates fact from fiction in the case of Pocahontas and new image recreations are revealed.

What did Anne Boleyn really look like? These brand new Anne recreations accompany the brand new video, which highlights her life, as well as research on her various portraits and which I believe to be the most accurate.

The Lady of Elche has always fascinated me, with her interesting headdress and delicately carved face. It turns out the statue is quite mysterious as well. Discovered in 1897 at a private estate south of Elche, Spain, it is generally thought to be an Iberian artifact from the 4th Century BC. However, the artisanship doesn’t quite match up with other Iberian artifacts from that period. She is believed to be a goddess, Tanit, who was worshipped by the Punic-Iberians in ancient times. However, the sculpture’s design and style suggests some Hellenistic influences. Originally, the bust was brightly painted, with reds, blues and yellows.