UAB collaborates in the reconstruction of the face of Simón Bolívar

Reconstrucció en 3D del rostre de Simón Bolívar

Philippe Froesch, expert in forensic art and member of the Research Group in Osteobiography (GROB) at UAB, made a 3D reconstruction of the face of Latin American military and politician Simón Bolívar. To do so, he worked closely with Assumpció Malgosa, lecturer of Physical Anthropology at UAB and director of GROB.

27/07/2012

Froesch reconstructed the face of Bolívar based on the skeletal remains which were exhumed in 2010. He was commissioned by the Venezuelan government, which is conducting an anthropological study on the politician. The artist has been working on the project since 2011 in his studio Visualforensic, in Terrassa, meticulously reconstructing the face in collaboration with Assumpció Malgosa, director of GROB, and with other scientists from Venezuela.

To obtain Bolívar's face in 3D, the expert began with the tridimensional reconstruction and digitalisation of the cranium and then went on to creating the soft tissues and covering them with facial muscles through 3D computer graphics. In the last phase, Froesch defined the tone of Bolívar's skin, the colour of his eyes, hair, eyebrows and his wrinkles.

Philippe Froesch has ample experience in the digital reconstruction of faces. One of his most famous works is that of Peter the Great, Count of Barcelona, as part of an anthropological research project in which members of GROB also participated.