What makes a face?

Anatomical models of the head

Germany, 1882 and 1887

These models were made by Carl Ernest Bock, an anatomist who taught at the University of Leipzig, and Franz Josef Steger. The Bock-Steger company manufactured anatomical models for the teaching of medicine, sometimes casting models from real specimens. These examples were used in teaching at the University of Aberdeen.

Model of an open head showing the internal organs, bones, muscles and blood vessels.

There are 20 muscles and 14 bones in the face. How many can you feel?

Line break composed of illustrated facial features

Cast of Robert the Bruce’s skull

Scotland, 1819

Remains believed to be those of Robert the Bruce (1274-1329) were discovered in 1818. Casts were made of the king’s skull, which have been used in multiple reconstructions of his face. The most recent reconstruction in 2016 was inspired by the recreation of Richard III’s face after the discovery of his remains.

Why are we curious about what famous people of the past looked like? Can we learn anything about them from what their face was like?

Coloured print. A cruel looking bald man, Tom Nero, is held by a crowd carrying pitchforks. A murdered woman lies on the ground with a bundle of stolen items. Members of the crowd hold up a knife and letter from the murdered woman which incriminate Nero.

Cruelty in perfection by William Hogarth (1697-1764)

printed 1794

William Hogarth’s moralising print series shows a character, Tom Nero, tormenting animals as a child and adult. In this image his career in evil culminates with a murder. He has a skull-like face, suggesting his wickedness and foretelling his fate: to be dissected by anatomists and have his bones put on display.

Can you tell what a person is like from their face?

Studies of heads and individual facial features by Palma Giovane (circa 1548-1628)

Italy, 1611

A sheet of cross-hatched illustrations of faces and facial features.

Palma Giovane ran a successful painters’ studio in late sixteenth and early seventeenth-century Venice. He produced the illustrations for several drawing manuals. Prints like this provided artists with useful templates from which to construct a range of characters, in different poses, for different purposes. The face of the young, bearded man on the left, for example, could be used for images of Jesus Christ, while the curly-haired child could be adapted into a cherub.

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What makes a face look real? Many artists have aimed for realism when depicting the human face, and it's often easy to see when a picture of someone doesn't look quite right. Psychologists at the University of Aberdeen have investigated how well artificial intelligence image creators can perform the task of creating realistic faces. They've found that faces of white people created by AI appear more realistic than real faces! Watch the video to see how well you can tell real and fake faces apart.

Grotesque head study after Leonardo da Vinci by Wensel Hollar (1607-1677)

Netherlands, 1648

Leonardo da Vinci (1452-1519) was said to be fascinated by people with unusual faces, to the point of following them around and drawing them. In his time it was believed that varying mixtures of blood, phlegm and bile produced a temperament (general mood) that was expressed in a person’s body. Many of Leonardo’s drawings of faces were reproduced as prints by Hollar, which gave them wider audiences.

Illustration of a tall, stooped man with dark features. He wears a black coat, cap and a large bag over his shoulder. In his hands are a pair of scissors and some lengths of string.

Duncan McKinlay (“Blin’ Bob”)

Illustration of a small man in an oversized coat. His gaunt facial features are close together. He leans on a chair for support.

James Grant (“Pizzie Grant”)

Illustrations of Aberdonians

Aberdeen, 1900

In 19^th century Aberdeen people with disabilities, mental illness or neurodivergence sometimes became local celebrities. Depicted here are two such "Aberdeen worthies", Duncan McKinlay - “Blin’ Bob” and James Grant - “Pizzie Grant”, “so-called from his diminutive face”. Duncan made a living selling pamphlets and small goods. James was a casual labourer who was arrested for theft twice and died in a poorhouse. Accounts of these "worthies" are written in an affectionate manner but describe the casual bullying of these people and their suffering under the oppressive institutions of the time: clearly, few could see past their unusual faces.