Here you’ll see a recent reconstruction of JS Bach’s face from his original bones - and you’ll see that it varies from the popular image we have of what Bach looked like.

BUT, before we get there - I’d like to point out how the mainstream article did a little “naughty” for a more dramatic story. The Reuters articles starts with the JS Bach portrait of the younger Bach that you see above, and exclaims how very different the actual reconstruction looks. Maybe they should have posted a picture of Aunt Bea from the Andy Griffith show, and said “Amazing, look how different it looks.”

Now, the reconstruction DOES look different from what you’d expect. But not so much as when they greased the pan with the photo above.

HERE is a widely accepted authentic portrait of an older JS Bach:

(In not-so-dramatic fashion, you may find the portrait and modern reconstruction are actually strikingly similiar.)

Now let’s look at the graduated reconstruction of JS Bach’s face from his unearthed skull:

And Viola! A closeup of the finished reconstruction. They omitted the wig which also features the difference in look.

“We know he was a physical man, that he danced, that he stamped his feet when he played, that he sang. He was a very dynamic man — with this reconstruction you can see it.”

Bach’s bones were excavated in 1894 and sculptors first used them to help create a bust in 1908.

Are you a JS Bach Fan? Checkout my “Christmas Gloria” where I retrace Bach’s steps in composing for the church service.

Sphere: Related Content

You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.