On d’Hollosy reconstruction of Caesar - continued

In the post of June 26, 2018
http://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.com/2018/06/on-maja-dhollosy-reconstruction-of.html

I discussed the reconstruction of Caesar's head made by Maja d'Hollosy, proposed in http://www.rmo.nl/reconstructiecaesar. She used data from a Leiden bust and the Tusculum bust. So I measured two rectangles to compare the face of Tusculum bust and the face of d'Hollosy reconstruction. Here the result.

The rectangles of the Tusculum bust (left). Rectangles of a frontal view of Maja d’Hollosy’s 3D reconstruction (Courtesy: elu24.postimees.ee Kuvatõmmis/Youtube,  Let me stress that the image on the right is here used for scientific and cultural purposes). The sizes are in pixels.

To the reader, the exercise to evaluate the ratios. Differences are of about 10%.

However, a reader could tell me that I have not investigated the other bust used for the reconstruction, that which is in Leiden. Actually, the bust is in bad condition, so I "restored" digitally its image. And the result is the following. 

For comparison, I rotated a little the image. Here the result and comparison.

The rectangles of the Tusculum bust (left), of a frontal view of Maja d’Hollosy’s 3D reconstruction (middle) and Leiden head (right). The numbers (in pixels) are given to the reader, in such a manner that  any measurement and ratio can be easily evaluated. 

The most evident defect of the 3D  reconstruction is in the fact that it has the head which has a square as its frame, whereas the two busts have rectangles.  

A chi somiglia?

Per far vedere che la mia ricostruzione del busto di Tuscolo non è troppo lontana da persone reali. In alto a sinistra, un particolare del busto di Tuscolo. Coloriamo un po' la pelle ed cominciamo a tracciare gli occhi (in alto a destra). In basso a sinistra la ricostruzione. A destra, lo riconoscete tutti, c'è Fiorello. Allora, il Cesare di Tuscolo a chi somiglia? Un pochino a Fiorello.

On Maja d’Hollosy reconstruction of Caesar's head

As we have previously told in [1], on 22 June 2018 an article has been published by the National Museum of Antiquities (Rijksmuseum van Oudheden) of Leiden [2], showing a new 3D reconstruction of Julius Caesar’s head based on a bust of the museum. 

Ref.3 is telling that this 3D reconstruction is "including the bizarre proportions of his [Caesar’s] cranium." To this conclusion given in [3] we answered in [1], telling the following. Suetonius, in De vita Caesarum [4], is not mentioning any bizarre proportion. And, to the author’s knowledge, no witty remark exists on Caesar’s head, besides his baldness of course.

 In fact, Suetonius tells that Caesar “was tall, of a fair complexion, round limbed, rather full faced, with eyes black and piercing”; only his baldness “gave him much uneasiness, having often found himself on that account exposed to the jibes of his enemies.” 

 In spite of Suetonius’ words, the result of the 3D reconstruction made by Maja d’Hollosy and given in [2], is the following: “Julius Caesar's head reconstructed with 3D technology - and it reveals something odd about his birth. The legendary Roman emperor has a 'crazy bulge' on his head, according to one expert”, as told in [5]. And also, the head reconstruction proposed in [2], is rendering Julius Caesar basically like E.T. [6]. 

 In [2], it is told that Maja d’Hollosy used a bust in Leiden (that shown by the web page) and the bust of Tusculum [7], today exhibited at the Museo Archeologico of Torino [8]. The Leiden bust shown in [2] is in bad conditions.  

Actually, at the web page https://elu24.postimees.ee/4509811/video-3d-busti-kohaselt-ei-olnud-julius-caesar-just-ilus-mees, we have a front view of Maja d’Hollosy reconstruction. So we can use it for comparison (let me stress that the image from the above-mentioned web site is here used for scientific and cultural purposes). In the Figure, the Tusculum bust is given on the left and the so-called 3D reconstruction on the right. The reader can easily note the different proportions of faces’ features. From the comparison, the differences are so evident that we can make easily some measurements. For instance, we could measure the distances between eyes and so on: but, I stress once more, differences are so evident that we can simply use two frames, for instance, two rectangles (red and purple). In the image, the numbers of pixels represent the size of the sides.

On the left, the Tusculum bust. On the right a frontal view of Maja d’Hollosy’s 3D reconstruction (Courtesy: elu24.postimees.ee Kuvatõmmis/Youtube). Let me stress that the image on the right is here used for scientific and cultural purposes. The rectangles are showing the quantitative differences. 

As we can see from the Figure, we have  ratios 113/170 and 235/270 for the Tusculum head and 115/156 and 255/260 for the Maja d'Hollosy's reconstruction. That is: 0.66 and 0.87 (Tusculum), 0.73 and 0.98 (3D d'Hollosy). As a conclusion we can tell that the proportions of the Tusculum bust had not been respected in the 3D reconstruction. But the main defect of  d'Hollosy reconstruction is in the fact that the purple frame is a SQUARE, whereas that of the Tusculum is a RECTANGLE. The square enhances the effect of a rendering based on small and too close eyes, deliberately chosen by d'Hollosy.


References
[1] Sparavigna, A. C. (2018, June 24). Julius Caesar in a 3D rendering from a 2D picture. Zenodo. http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1297051
[2] http://www.rmo.nl/reconstructiecaesar
[3] https://www.rt.com/news/430659-caesar-head-reconstructed-rome/
[4] Suetonius, Divus Julius, Alexander Thomson. Available at www.perseus.tufts.edu/
[5] https://www.mirror.co.uk/science/julius-caesars-head-reconstructed-3d-12794457
[6] https://metro.co.uk/2018/06/25/new-3d-reconstruction-reveals-julius-caesar-basically-looked-like-e-t-7658540/
[7] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tusculum_portrait
[8] http://museoarcheologico.piemonte.beniculturali.it/index.php/9-uncategorised/129-museo-di-antichita-di-torino

Leiden marble head of Julius Caesar digitally restored

The head of Leiden "restored" using the Chiaramonti Caesar.

On the left, the head of Leiden as it is, on the right, the face restored using that of the Tusculum bust (Turin).

See please the new post

https://stretchingtheboundaries.blogspot.com/2019/03/un-cesare-chiaramonti-leida-rijksmuseum.html

Taurasia

When Hannibal arrived in the plan near Torino, he found Taurasia with its gates closed. Taurasia was pro-Rome. After a battle of three days, Hannibal destroyed completely Taurasia and also the Celtic people of Taurini. He did it so well that, today, we have no idea where Taurasia was. What happened? The people of Taurini survived only in the name of Torino or are here in our DNA? I think that they are here in DNA. But Taurini disappeared from history, and we know them only from the name of the town, Julia Augusta Taurinorum, in honor of the alliance with Rome.
The emblem of Torino is the bull (toro), but the name of the people, Taurini, had its origin in a Celtic word meaning  "gate", "tower". That is, the people of the Gate of the Alps.

Digital restoration of a Julius Caesar's marble head in Leiden

My digital restoration of one of the two marble heads of Caesar at http://www.rmo.nl/onderwijs/museumkennis/klassieke-wereld/romeinen/de-voorwerpen/julius-caesar

The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is the national archaeological museum of the Netherlands. It is located in Leiden.

My restoration of the Leiden bust of Caesar

This is my "digital restoration" (on the right) of the Leiden bust of Caesar (on the left). Actually, this is one of  two marble heads of Caesar that we can see at the page http://www.rmo.nl/onderwijs/museumkennis/klassieke-wereld/romeinen/de-voorwerpen/julius-caesar . The Rijksmuseum van Oudheden is the national archaeological museum of the Netherlands. It is located in Leiden.

For the restoration of the face I used that of the Tusculum bust.

Actually "rectangles" are coherent (see the discussion in this post)

Farnese

Il Cesare Farnese

The Pantheon, eye of Rome, and its glimpse of the sky

The Pantheon, eye of Rome, and its glimpse of the sky: The only natural light source of the Pantheon in Rome is its Oculus, a large opening at the top of the vault. Some literature proposed that the rays of the sun, passing through the Oculus, were actng as they could do in a huge sundial. The sun has been also imagined as being involved during some rituals made by the Roman emperors in the temple, to emphasize the celebratons of the foundaton of Rome. Besides to the sun, the temple could also have been linked to the heavens and the stars passing close to the Zenith. Inside this temple, which we could imagine as a huge eye, the gods were guarding the moton of the universe, Mundus, of which the city, Caput Mundi, was the head. In fact, a possibility exists that the architect who planned the temple had been inspired by the form of the human eye to create a building representatve of the link between Rome and the heavens, exactly in the place where Romulus ascended to them. In this artcle, besides proposing this idea, we give also some simulatons made by means of the sofware planetarium Stellarium, of the night sky and the stars visible through the Oculus at the tme of the Emperor Hadrian, who built the temple that we see today.

Wardrobe of Curiosities

Domenico Remps (1620–1699): Cabinet of Curiosities  wikidata:Q19939108 

Current location Opificio delle pietre dure , Firenze