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3-D recreations by Pitt anthropologist bring new dimension to first president

The computerized three-dimensional image of Washington at age 19, as well as images as he appeared as a Revolutionary War general at 45 and president at 57, are the result of a yearlong multidisciplinary effort led by University of Pittsburgh anthropologist Jeffrey Schwartz.


No one ever painted or sculpted a likeness of Washington when he was an unknown frontier surveyor; in fact, no portrait of him before age 40 exists. But Schwartz said the new images are as close as he could come to a forensic reconstruction of Washington, without the bones. "They look real to me," he said.

The 3-D full-body reconstructions are as yet expressionless, hairless and naked, but will serve as the basis for three full-size, lifelike models to go on display in a new museum opening in October 2006 at Washington's Mount Vernon estate in Virginia.

The 19-year-old version will be used later to sculpt a statue of the 21-year-old Washington now planned for a renovated Point State Park.

Even in their current state, "I think all the drawings show a strength and determination, if you will, that the Gilbert Stuart portrait [on the dollar bill] is lacking," said Jim Rees, executive director of the Virginia estate.

As Rees had hoped at the project's outset, Washington "comes off as stronger, more physical" than he appears in formal portraits.

Read entire article at Pittsburgh Post-Gazette