The reputation of Sir William Wallace looms large in Scotland, and after the 1995 film “Braveheart” his legacy became known around the globe. But, there is a lot to separate in terms of fact from fiction.

But what we really know about William Wallace comes from only a few sources, most notably the 15th century writings of a poet called Blind Harry, titled The Wallace. Unfortunately, there are many periods of Wallace’s life for which no information exists. 

What did Vincent van Gogh really look like? It’s harder to pin down than you might think.

35 self-portraits of Van Gogh exist - with just one photograph of him at age 19. Each self-portrait is an interesting window into his mental condition. We see many versions of Vincent, each looking quite different. In some, his facial angles are extremely exaggerated and shadowed in dark colors - possible insight into his distressed mental state. However, his general facial features are there each time - red hair, defined cheekbones, a slightly hooked nose - the details change with each version.

I used his self portrait from 1887 for my re-creation. After looking through them all, this one somehow seems to fall perfectly in the middle. It’s also comparable to his photo portrait as a young man, looking like a thin, aged up version of it.

Studying the appearance of Victoria and Albert is fascinating, because their lives straddled the time between portrait painting and photography as the method for documenting what a monarch looks like.

Since we know what Victoria and Albert look like in their later years, I’ve re-creating portraits of them young, what they looked like soon after becoming Queen and Consort. I also created them with “realism” edits, using some early photographs from around the same time to create versions of them without the portrait beautifications.

I want to share an exciting project I’ve been working on in the past year! As part of the project "Mesopotamia Sculptures in Colour", Astrid Nunn and Heinrich Piening had the opportunity to analyze the famous female head from Assur. I was given the opportunity to step in and reconstruct the 4000-year-old head, to make it more lifelike.

Ugliest wife, or luckiest wife?

Anne of Cleves is known to history as being the “ugly” fourth wife of King Henry VIII, but we have reasons to believe this is mostly a case of historical slander.

Anne grew up in the North Rhine-Westphalia region of what is now Germany. She was the daughter of a powerful Protestant ruler, John III. When King Henry VIII’s third wife, Jane Seymour, died in childbirth, he was soon on the hunt for wife #4. After the split from the Catholic church in England, it was imperative to find a Protestant ally in Europe.

"If slavery is not wrong, nothing is wrong” - Abraham Lincoln

Abraham Lincoln is one of the most celebrated men in American history, famous for ending slavery in the United States. He was born very poor, and faced struggle after struggle in his young life, including being abandoned for six months by his father. He also lost 3 out of 4 children, and a former fiance. His life was incredibly difficult, yet nearly everyone who met him said he had a gentle, compassionate manner. He was also very funny. The man as he is described by his contemporaries looks very different from the photographs showing a tired, grim man. I’ve worked on some re-creations and restorations to really bring Lincoln back to life.

Elizabeth I is someone I could revisit over and over. I wanted to create a version of her in her own time, based on this 1560s portrait of her as a young woman. Check out the full video about her life and reign on YouTube - Royalty Now Studios.

Here’s what we know about her appearance: We know from her life that in order to establish power as an unmarried female monarch, Elizabeth could not let one crack of her personal vulnerability show. Her portraits are much the same. They show Elizabeth in great wealth and splendor, showing her as youthful and trim even in her old age. Her image was to reflect the evergreen power that England was.

This statue image is said to be about as close as we can get to Alexander's true appearance. 

Its original was sculpted by Lysippos, the court sculptor of Alexander & his family, during Alexander's lifetime. The original would have been bronze, but this is a Roman-era stone copy. It's definitely safe to assume there is some stylization going on with images of Alexander, considering his huge reputation and penchant for depicting himself as god-like. But with this one, something just feels very real and natural. 

Shakespeare is a subject I’ve really been looking forward to. But I’ve always been thrown off by the lack of portraiture for this great man. We don’t have a single verified description or portrait of William Shakespeare from life - we pretty much only know what we know about him thanks to his friends gathering and publishing his works after his death. I’ve used the so-called Chandos portrait to recreate Shakespeare here - both in his own time and of course as a modern day man (I admit I love the pompous professor look on him). A full YouTube video will be coming soon detailing what we know about his appearance and which other portraits may be Shakespeare.

Despite having many portraits created, Josephine’s appearance is a bit mysterious. Each portrait of her looks just slightly different. They all show a woman with delicate features - deepset eyes with visible lids, a long and sharp nose, and a small mouth with a pointed chin.