What Did Marquis de Lafayette Look Like? See His Real Face Based Upon his Life Mask

Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States simply as Lafayette, was a French aristocrat and military officer who fought in the American Revolutionary War, commanding American troops in several battles, including the Siege of Yorktown. After returning to France, he was a key figure in the French Revolution of 1789 and the July Revolution of 1830.

His life mask was cast in 1825 by J. I. Browere. The life mask is an accurate representation of Lafayette's face.

According to the portrait painter, Rembrandt Peale,

"The singular excellence shown by Mr. Browere in his new method of executing Portrait busts from the life deserves the applause and patronage of his countrymen. The bust of La Fayette, which he has just finished, is an admirable demonstration of his talent in this department of the Fine Arts. The accuracy with which he has moulded the entire head, neck and shoulders from the life and his skill in finishing, render this bust greatly superior to any we have seen. It is in truth a “faithful and a living likeness.” Of this I may judge having twice painted the General’s portrait from the life, once at Paris and recently at Washington."

According to Samuel F. B. Morse, "Being requested by Mr. Browere to give my opinion of his bust or cast from the person of General La Fayette, I feel no hesitation in saying it appears to me to be a perfect facsimile of the General’s face."

This video shows my Photoshop reconstruction of the life mask.

▬About Digital Yarbs ▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬▬

I'm a Photoshop composition artist who enjoys history. I reconstruct life masks, statues and busts of famous early Americans and historic figures.
Using life masks, I completed a forensic/academic study of how the subjects most likely appeared using Adobe Photoshop to add flesh, hair, and other details. My website, Digital Yarbs features reconstructions and animations of these life masks along with a little history and how the subjects might have looked in daguerreotypes and photographs.

To understand what these historic figures really looked like we cannot rely on paintings as they suffer from “artistic license” and “sympathetic treatment” commonly employed by many contemporary portrait artists. Before photography, the art form of the life mask was the best way to create an exact likeness of an individual. Basically, plaster would be applied to the head and sometimes upper torso to create a mold from which a life mask or bust of the person could be cast. This would result in a three-dimensional, faithful transfer capturing in minute detail the true likeness of the subject.

Website: https://yarbs.net/

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Music: TV Drama Version 2 by Audionautix is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/​)
Artist: http://audionautix.com/​

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