Forensikern aus Barcelona ist es gelungen den Kopf von Maximilien de Robespierre, einer der Anführer der französischen Revolution und massgeblich verantwortlich für die sogenannte Terrorherrschaft, in Folge derer rund 16’000 Feinde der Revolution auf der Guillotine enthauptet wurden und am Ende rollte auch sein Kopf, zu rekonstruieren. Der Herr war quasi sowas wie der erste Linksradikale der Welt.
Philippe Charlier, forensic pathologist and indefatigable researcher of historical medical conundrums, and Philippe Froesch, facial reconstruction specialist with Visual Forensic in Barcelona, Spain, have created an intense facial reconstruction of French Revolutionary leader Maximilien de Robespierre. The main source for the image is a plaster copy of a death mask Madame Tussaud claimed* to have made from his decapitated head after he was guillotined on July 28th, 1794.
Froesch used a hand-held scanner to create a 3D computer model of the face. He then added details to the smooth-faced model, like the more than 100 pockmarks caused by a bad case of smallpox he suffered 30 years before his death when he was a boy of six. The eyes were a particular challenge because the closed eyelids didn’t leave an impression in the plaster so they were drawn on. Using an FBI technique that allowed him to calculate the eye size and position from marks left on the mask by the corneas, he was able to correct the crude eyelid line.