Bach to reality with forensic art

Forensic anthropologist Dr Caroline Wilkinson, senior lecturer in the Centre for Forensic and Medical Art, is no stranger to the glare of the media spotlight.

Her expertise in forensic facial reconstruction and her involvement in several high profile cases have resulted in numerous TV appearances and radio and newspaper interviews.

However the reaction to her latest work reconstructing the face of German composer Johann Sebastian Bach has, she admits, come as something of a surprise.

"The level of interest has been massive, " said Dr Wilkinson. "I was at the press conference in Germany when the reconstruction went on display and it was actually quite scary. There was a bank of photographers flashing away like the Bach head was George Clooney. It was amazing.

"The reconstruction was in the media all over the world. I heard that just after the press conference a google search threw up 50 results, which then grew to 75,000 a few days later and to more than 2 million within a week. It just seemed to spread.

"We do get some media interest here but it has never been anything like this. It was incredible."

Dr Wilkinson was approached by the Bachhaus Museum in Germany to recreate the face of Bach following a facial comparison she had done on a portrait of the composer and another portrait of someone believed to be Bach's son.

"They had heard about the work we were doing and asked if we could do a reconstruction of Bach's face," she said. "They gave us a bronze cast of his skull which we laser scanned. That allowed us to recreate the musculature and skin of the face on our computer system. By assessing the bone structure we determined facial morphology and produced an accurate picture of his facial appearance."

Using a copy of the only portrait Bach actually sat for and their knowledge of the composer, Dr Wilkinson and her colleagues forensic artist Caroline Needham, animation artist Janice Aitken from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art and Design and researcher Dr Chris Rynn of the Centre for Anatomy and Human Identification began the process of fleshing out the face.

"The museum provided us with a copy of the authentic portrait of Bach and from that Janice was able to start texturing the face," said Dr Wilkinson. "There were also written contemporary documents that described his eye problems causing swollen eyelids.

"We also know that he was overweight and that he had an underbite where his lower teeth protrude further than his upper teeth.

"His hair was suggested by the Bach museum. In his portrait he was wearing a wig so his hair isn't seen. We know from his eyebrows though that his hair was once dark brown and at 65 the chances are he would have been grey but we can't be absolutely sure."

The reconstruction has been well received in Germany and elsewhere although sections of the UK media have been less than complimentary.

"One journalist said the reconstruction made Bach look like a Motherwell boozer but to be honest I think that says more about the journalist than it does about the reconstruction," said Dr Wilkinson.

"I'm quite pleased with the result. I think he looks like a genial old grandpa. People in Germany quite liked it. Some people have said he appears to have quite a ruddy appearance but we know he was overweight and was known to drink beer so we really couldn't give him a perfect complexion.

"This was really the most complete face that can be built from the available reliable information. As far as we can ascertain, this is how Bach would have looked."

While Dr Wilkinson's work on Bach produced something of a media frenzy her involvement in other archaeological cases has brought rather more unusual rewards.

Her recreation of the face of Sir Edmund Rice, the founder of the Christian Brothers, for the opening of a new heritage centre in Waterford in Ireland resulted in the news that she had been made a "second level holy relic."

"I went to Ireland to view the remains which are considered to be a holy relic," she explained. "and because I had to touch the remains I was told I was a second level holy relic.

"They were just teasing me but I like the idea of being a holy relic."

Although the Centre for Forensic and Medical Art receives more public and media attention for its work on archaeological cases such as Bach and Sir Edmund Rice its main focus is in forensic cases where reconstructions are used to aid identification of individuals.

"The purpose of the unit is the forensic work and it is quite different to archaeological cases," said Dr Wilkinson.

"In forensic cases the police tend to want results immediately and with the material can be in poor condition so we have less information and less time.

"We might be working with a skeleton that has been buried for a long time or is damaged in some way and we won't have the background information that we had with Bach for example.

"The model we produce in a forensic case wouldn't usually include the detail either. It would be more neutral. The archaeological cases allow us to experiment with different techniques which can feed back into the forensic work."

Recent cases the team has worked on include the discovery of the remains of a five-year-old girl and an 11-year-old girl in the Netherlands.

"Both girls were identified very quickly and people have been convicted. That is our motivation and primary application," said Dr Wilkinson.

"It can be emotive but that usually comes at the end. While we are working on the reconstruction we just tend to focus on the anatomy and methodology.

"We can help the police and the families and identification is always the optimal outcome."