What Did Thomas Jefferson Look Like? The Real Face of author of the Declaration of Independence

Thomas Jefferson, 3rd President of the United States. (1743-1826). A Photoshop reconstruction based on Jefferson's life mask by John Henri Isaac Browere (1790–1834).

Jefferson's experience with the life mask casting process was not pleasant.

Jefferson wrote to James Madison of the ordeal on October 18, 1825:
"I was taken in by Browere. he said his operation would be of about 20. minutes and less unpleasant than Houdon’s method. I submitted therefore without enquiry but it was a bold experiment on his part on the health of an Octogenary, worn down by sickness as well as age. successive coats of thin grout plaistered on the naked head, and kept there an hour, would have been a severe trial of a young and hale person. he suffered the plaister also to get so dry that separation became difficult & even dangerous. he was obliged to use freely the mallet & chisel to break it into pieces and get off a piece at a time. these thumps of the mallet would have been sensible almost to a loggerhead. the family became alarmed, and he confused, till I was quite exhausted, and there became real danger that the ears would separate from the head sooner than from the plaister. I now bid adieu for ever to busts & even portraits."

▬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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