A view of the completed fi gure of the 19-year-old .

52 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 getting to knowGeorge

WashingtonBy Jeffrey H. Schwartz

n the spring of 2003, I found myself learning morere Iabout our country’s first president and 18th century art, clothing, and dentistry than I ever dreamed likely. But there I was one day in April, sitting with Laura Fisher, executive director of French and Indian War 250, who was asking me if Figure 1. Bust of . I thought I could reconstruct a life-like replica of Images courtesy of Jeffrey H. Schwartz. George Washington in 1754.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 53 A view of the completed fi gure of the 45-year-old Washington on his horse Blueskin.

54 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 That would be when he was 22 years old, a course I said I would take on the project, not hairline) and produced a terracotta bust— junior offi cer in the English militia stationed in only because it meant reconstructing George the face of which, I later fi gured out, must Western Pennsylvania. I had been working for Washington but also because it would the have been a replica of the life mask. He also some 20 years as the forensic anthropologist fi rst time anyone tried to de-age an individual took body measurements for a marble statue with the Coroner’s (now Medical Examiner’s) without the aid of photographs and image- (Figure 1) that he sculpted upon his return Offi ce of Allegheny County, which is how manipulating computer software. Only after to Paris that is so detailed one can see seams Laura found me. agreeing did Laura tell me that the authorities at in clothing and “impressions” of fi ngernails I’ve always been intrigued by the kind George Washington’s did not under tight-fi tting gloves. In contrast to other of forensic reconstruction like in the movie allow anyone access to Washington’s bones. people of power, who wanted their likenesses Gorky Park—using clay plugs representing No bones? What’s a forensic anthropologist, portrayed larger than life, Washington insisted averages of soft tissue depths at different especially a skeletal specialist like me, to do? that the statue refl ect his true height, which, landmarks of the skull and lower jaw as a guide The challenge deepened but I had to do this, at 6 feet, 2-1/2 inches (by my calculations), to transforming bone into a face—and thought somehow. Indeed, good fortune turned out to was still appreciably taller than the average this would be once-in-a-lifetime challenge. Of be on my side. man of that time.

ven if I had been permitted to measure these three- E dimensional representations of Washington I would have been too nervous to handle them, much less put the sharp tips of calipers upon them.

In 1785, internationally renowned French Even if I had been permitted to measure court artist Jean-Antoine Houdon declined these three-dimensional representations of an opportunity to immortalize Catherine Washington, I would have been too nervous the Great of Russia in favor of a request to handle them, much less examine with from Washington’s supporters to capture the sharp tips of calipers. Who wants to be the image of the former Commander of the the fi rst person to damage the life mask of . Thus, when Washington George Washington? Someone else had was 53 years old, Houdon spent two weeks at already dropped the bust, fortunately not Mount Vernon. Any details of the visit that cracking the face, but a repair around the hair Houdon recorded were lost when his atelier in is very noticeable. Paris and everything in it were burned to the However, while lecturing at Arizona State ground during the French Revolution (1789- University on human fossils and evolution, 1799). We do know that Houdon followed I was introduced to a group, PRISM, Washington through his daily activities, which had been collaborating with physical making sketches and notes that would help anthropologists to scan bones in 3-D and then him imbue his work with the essence of his digitally measure and compare them. This subject. Houdon made a life mask (a positive was perfect for analyzing the life mask, bust, plaster replica taken from the plaster mold and statue, especially because no matter what made of Washington’s face just past the the measurements taken by hand, they would

Statue of George Washington. WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 55 fter Washington resigned... Ahe would not accept a dinner invitation without fi rst being assured that the food would be soft, not requiring him to chew.

Figure 2. The Mount Vernon dentures: the only surviving complete set. The plates are made of lead; the teeth in the upper never faithfully recreate a complex three- and the ears generally smaller than, say, at are horse (front) and cow (rear); the teeth in the lower are human but not all dimensional object, such as a face. There was 65. We also lose fat from our faces, especially in their correct location. I dated these no hesitation from PRISM about assisting with below the cheekbones and around the eyes, dentures to at least 30 April 1789; the my Washington project. which become more hollow looking or sunken manufacturer remains unknown. About this time a new education center as we grow older. In children of both sexes was started at George Washington’s Mount the bone of the upper rim of the eye socket Vernon Estate and Gardens. Laura introduced and the region above the bridge of the nose me to Executive Director James Rees, who is smoothly continuous. After puberty and envisioned—as centerpieces in the new exhibit especially in males, the bone in these areas hall—life-sized replicas of Washington at often thickens. With these facts in mind, it three different ages representing important was relatively simple for me to conceptualize moments in the first president’s life. The the young Washington: manipulate the youngest was Washington at 19 years old, scanned 53-year-old face to slightly reduce the when he was a surveyor in Virginia trying to length of the nose and overall size of the ears, support his mother and numerous half- and fi ll in the cheeks and around the eyes, and full-siblings. The second was Washington at flatten out the swollen bone “under” and age 45, when he and his nearly disintegrated between the eyebrows. army suffered the winter at . In Houdon’s reproductions as well as in The third was 57-year-old Washington being reliable portraits of Washington, such as those inaugurated on April 30, 1789, near what it by Charles Willson Peale and , now lower Manhattan’s Wall Street. one feature stands out: a small depression in Scanning Houdon’s creations was the the left cheek. Some scholars have speculated beginning of the reconstruction. Washington that this slight deformity resulted from was 53 years old when the life mask was infections that affl icted Washington’s teeth, made and I needed to recreate a biologically gums, and jaws. If true, I would have expected believable 57-, 45-, and 19-year-old. If some degree of destruction of underlying bone FigureFig 3. One of thethe digdigitized Peale Washington had not suffered from decades of that would be evident in the life mask and bust portraitsporportraraittss of Washington in his 40ss wiwitwith the tooth and subsequent bone loss, the process or any legitimate portrait of Washington as an scannedscannneedd bubbustst oriented so ththee faciafacialcialal features feature of de-aging would not have been as signifi cant older man. But in all of these representations, align.gn. NNoteo e ththee differencese in thee lower a problem. For instance, as you and I age, the right and left sides of Washington’s face face,e, particularlya t cu a thee lips andd cchin. the cartilage toward the tip of the nose and are not dramatically different in shape and throughoutroughout tthe ears continues to grow. Thus contour. There was, however, another possible at 19 years of age, one’sone s nosen would be shorter explanation of that depression.

56 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 Nineteen-year-old Washington From letters, diaries, and other documents Washington’s own writing tells of his contracted smallpox while visiting his at Mount Vernon, we receive a partial picture of oral agonies, his ongoing attempts to scrape tuberculotic half-brother Lawrence on Washington’s “oral history.” His senior offi cer and otherwise keep clean teeth that were on Barbados. Yet no reliable portrait, much less in the British militia remarked of Washington their way out and those still fi rmly in place, the life mask—the closest thing to realizing at age 25 that while he was tall, lanky, sinewy, and of his applying the latest poultices and Washington’s facial skin—depicts typical and strong, he was already so self-conscious other concoctions to retard his oral disease. signs of smallpox-induced scarifi cation. The of his dental demise that he was reluctant to But his was a losing battle. By the early 1789, simplest conclusion, I thought, was that the speak for fear of exposing his blackened teeth. Washington had lost all but two teeth. By “dimple” in Washington’s cheek was his only Nevertheless, Washington, a self-confessed April 30, 1789, when he was inaugurated, visible scar, a small “souvenir” of his bout with walnut addict, would crack their shells with Washington retained only one: the lower right the disease. I wanted the detailed expressions his teeth. This had to have traumatized the second bicuspid. and poses for each Washington to be unique, ligaments and soft tissue investing these While Washington may have had a few so I digitally removed the scar, thereby teeth, providing a perfect breeding ground for more teeth when Houdon visited him, I am situating the 19-year-old Washington prior to bacterial infection that would then produce an certain he no longer had any front teeth. One visiting Barbados. abscess requiring tooth extraction, which, in day, after months of studying the two Charles The primary factor affecting Washington’s turn, would lead to bone loss. Willson Peale portraits of Washington at the face was his decades-long struggle with tooth decay and no doubt general infection of his gums, which would have led to tooth loss, primarily through extraction. After a tooth is lost the surrounding bone then resorbs. With complete tooth loss in the upper jaw, the bone that once extended fully down around long tooth roots retreats to lie almost right under the nose and on back. In the lower jaw, the bone thins from top to bottom by more than half and, especially in males, the angle at the back becomes softer looking and less prominent under the skin, muscle, and fat. I was certain that Washington’s jaws were fairly close to this condition when Houdon made the life mask and bust, which I used with little alteration as the 57-year-old Washington’s face. I also thought that loss of lower front teeth had contributed to the odd shape of the inferior margin of his chin: it was straight and very broad from side to side, but on a slant, from the right “corner” up to the left. This contrasted with the narrower, symmetrically and downwardly curved chin Peale portrayed in the two earliest paintings we have of Washington, at 40 and 47 years old. Rembrandtndt PPeale,eale, With such obvious facial remodeling occurring son of Charlesharles in only six or so years, I needed another part of Wilson PPealeeale (w(whoho the puzzle: his dentures. (Figure 2) painted over 60 pportraitsortraits of Washington),ington), followed in his father’s ffootstepsootsteps with his criticallcriticallyy acclaimeded portraits such as this oneone, painted six decades after the fi rst president’s death. Mount Vernon Ladies’ Association, Bequest of Luisita L. Cofer. WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 57 Figure 4. The digital reconstruction Figure 5. The digital reconstruction Figure 6. The digital reconstruction of the 19-year-old Washington. of the 45-year-old Washington. of the 57-year-old Washington.

58 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 ages or 40 and 47, and with the image of the I felt secure that morphing the scan of the 53-year-old burned into my brain, I had an bust’s face to the spatial relationships of facial epiphany. In the portraits, Washington’s chin features in the digitized portraits would lead to was narrow and rounded, its distance from the the best reconstruction of the face of 45-year- nose greater, and his lips less wide and relaxed. old Washington. From this three-dimensional Ellen Miles, the curator of 18th century face, I could “de-age” him to 19 years of age art at the National Portrait Gallery, had alerted in nose, cheeks, and brow. For individuality me to Peale’s tendency to paint his subjects I removed the smallpox scar. I also created a with oval faces. When I sought to verify my strong, well-defi ned angle at the back of the visual observations, I scanned only the major lower jaw because it would be another four facial features of the portraits (eyes, brows, or five years before Washington began to nose, lips, chin) before importing each 2-D fi le lose teeth and because, although strong and into the fi eld of the scanned 3-D face of the active, he would not have reached full physical bust. I then oriented the scanned bust until it maturity, especially in muscle mass. For all aligned with Washington’s pose in the scanned reconstructions, I used the scanned bust to Figure 7. The clay version of the 19-year-old’s head portrait. I did not know that comparing complete the head and neck. with his facial features and expression defi ned. 2- and 3-D digital images was a fi rst. I was Recreating the bodies was by comparison satisfi ed to discover that my visual evaluation a relatively simple task. As with the bust, life aristocratic background, as were his of differences between the 53-year-old and mask, and dentures, PRISM scanned the statue contemporaries such as Thomas Jefferson, 40-something Washington was confirmed and worked with me to manipulate the digital , and Benjamin Franklin. This, as (Figure 3). I attribute the greater distance from images. But I needed to check on whether the Linda told me, meant that Washington would nose to chin in the younger Washington to the statue was close to Washington’s own body have been corseted until the age of fi ve in order presence of at least some of his front teeth, both in length (for instance, not just total to produce a body in which the shoulders were which would also explain why his lips then height, but of upper versus lower arms as well pulled down and back and the inward curve were relaxed rather than widely and tautly as legs) and in girth. Here, Linda Baumgarten, in the lower vertebral spine accentuated. drawn, as they are in the life mask and would Colonial Williamsburg’s 18th century clothing This manipulation created a torso with a have been as they strained to keep his dentures expert, provided invaluable help. long sloping neckline and shoulder blades in place. First, regardless of his down-to-earth that lay fl at across the back. The lower spinal persona, Washington was still of English curvature accentuated the bulge of the belly, even if one was not fat. The statue captured all of this detail. Even though these boys were apparently not corseted beyond five years of age, it was suffi cient to forever alter the nterestingly, the length or linear shape of their torsos. Consequently, all of my reconstructed Washingtons had this ballet- measurements of arms, legs, and I dancer appearance. parts of the torso were virtually The other important aspect of reconstructing the body was that, being identical. So the lanky-armed a “gentleman,” Washington would have worn form-fi tting clothing. For instance, his and -legged Washington represented waistcoat would have hugged his chest, belly, in the statue was realistic. and waist, his coat his shoulders and its sleeves his arms, his gloves his hands, his breeches the area around his knee, and his boots his calf. Unfortunately, there are no surviving

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 59 60 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 documented gloves, boots, or shoes (and in A possible answer emerged when I returned to Washington began to change his diet to softer, any case there was no difference between Washington’s own writing. more easily swallowed food. Fat, suet, bone right and left shoe casts at that time). For that After Washington resigned his marrow, and the like, which begins to dissolve matter, there were no hats or eyeglasses, except commission from the Continental Army and in the heat of one’s mouth, was probably for a pair of magnifying spectacles one could returned to his farming, fi shing, and distillery becoming more prevalent in his diet. But even buy “off the rack,” as today in any pharmacy ventures, and then through his two terms an active man, as Washington clearly was, has chain store. as president, he would not accept a dinner caloric limitations, and it appears that Peale, But there is clothing that is well invitation without fi rst being assured that Washington’s friend and comrade since militia documented as having been Washington’s the food would be soft, not requiring him to days, captured this in his portraits. The scene and not tailored to fit another individual chew. Although macerators—manufactured that Mount Vernon’s Jim Rees envisioned later on. Linda and I measured Washington’s “jaws” with blades imbedded in them—were for Washington at Valley Forge had him clothing, most of which dates to the period of common in the 19th century as devices to on horseback (most likely riding Blueskin, his inauguration and after, using landmarks chop up food so a toothless individual could although was later his favorite horse), also visible in the Houdon stature. The length manipulate it with the tongue and then so my reconstruction had to embrace not only or linear measurements of arms, legs, and swallow, their use during the 18th century the further exaggeration of the lower back parts of the torso were virtually identical, so is not documented. I discovered during this that sitting alone would produce but also the lanky-armed and -legged Washington represented in the statue was realistic. Differences lay particularly in girth of torso and thigh, indicating that Washington was a bit “thicker” than in the statue, although not irst, regardless of his appreciably so. The scan of the statue was down-to-earth persona, adjusted accordingly. Since the clothing was F the same vintage as the inauguration, I knew I Washington was still of English “had” the body of Washington (Figure 4). What of the younger representations of aristocratic background. Washington? Envisioning the 19-year-old surveyor was straightforward. After assuming the presidency, and especially during his project that it would have been impossible for Washington’s abdominal expanse (Figure 6). second term, when he was under extreme Washington to use his dentures, particularly After the faces and bodies reached my stress from detractors that included Thomas those preserved at Mount Vernon, for standard of acceptability, then came the more Jefferson, Washington was noted for being anything but fi lling space between his nearly arduous task of manipulating the computer thin, as his clothing attests. As a young man toothless jaws, so he probably took them out software to imbue each face with the expression not yet hormonally and physically mature, before dining. No wonder he preferred soft, and each body with the pose, poise, and energy Washington would have been even thinner, mushy, dissolvable foods. that I thought best refl ected each moment in lankier, and more sinewy. Hours of tedious More of my staring at the Peale portraits time. Consequently, the surveyor has a slight computer manipulation fi nally produced a of Washington at 40 and 47 years eventually smile around the eyes and corners of his lips as fi gure I considered realistic (Figure 5). led me to another epiphany: Washington had he looks up and out into the unknown future. For the 45-year-old, clues came in a belly. Not just the abdominal exaggeration The commander at Valley Forge has to pull two different ways. I again turned to the caused by his artifi cially curved lower spine, together every ounce of the charisma he had Peale portraits of the 40- and 47-year-old but a bit of a paunch that was made more to keep the Continental Army going under the Washington. There was something about prominent by his long and lanky arms and direst of conditions. And, having rejected an them I could not figure out: he looked legs. Perhaps, I thought, this was when offer to become king, the president-elect found different than the man in the statue, but how?

Left: The 57 year-old Washington being sworn in as the fi rst U.S. president.

WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010 61 himself at a ceremony that would charge him discussing the feeling I thought each face had with an offi ce and government that had not to project, Stu met me halfway—not only in ever before existed. “doing” George Washington but in working With the images as close as I could get to with a perceived “non-artist.” Eventually our my expectations, I went with PRISM folks to collaboration resulted in the facial expressions a company in northern California with which I had hoped for. they had worked in converting digital images The studio, Studio Eis, proposed to mold into tangible representations. This is done by the faces out of plaster but I objected. After so cutting up the virtual image into sections and much intensive thought and labor, why cut using the data from each section to inform fi nancial corners now? So Madame Tussauds, something like a huge lathe to carve that here we come. After each head had been particular piece from a block of high-density sculpted to my specifi cations, it was molded Styrofoam. In this case, I got a head, a torso, again. Layer after thin layer of liquid wax was and parts of limbs that then had to be put carefully poured into each mold, which was Figure 8. The wax replica of the clay 19 year-old’s head with the together. Although the body parts came out rotated in order to achieve uniform thickness. implanted hair and wig behind, hand-painted glass eyeballs in place, fairly close to what I had created in the digital Each “eggshell” of a face was then implanted and fi nishing touches to the skin still being painted. world, the detail of the faces, and in particular with real hair, as close to Washington’s color the expressions I had worked on so long, did as possible, suffi ciently behind the hairline that my reconstructions are but also how each not. Nevertheless, according to plan, the three a wig placed behind would not be perceptible. one is George Washington, I burst with pride. Styrofoam Washington manikins were packed Then glass eyeballs, each pair refl ecting the While I cannot envision another project ever carefully and shipped to an artists’ studio in piecing egg-shell blue of Washington’s irises rivaling the challenge and national signifi cance Brooklyn with whom I worked, turning my but also the discoloration of the surrounding of this one, I will be forever grateful that I had conceptualizations into life-like replicas of our white that emerges with age, were “implanted” this opportunity. fi rst president. from behind and the facial details of color, tiny Since the heads would be the most blood vessels, and beard stubble painted onto Jeffrey H. Schwartz is professor of Physical visible parts, this is where we concentrated the wax face (Figure 8). Last, although hardly Anthropology and of History and Philosophy our efforts. Each Styrofoam head was molded least, was the task of getting the clothing not of Science at the University of Pittsburgh. His decades-long association with the Allegheny and clay packed into each mold. I then only as it would have been in each moment, Medical Examiner’s Offi ce led to this once-in-a- collaborated with sculptor Stu Williamson to but of sewing it onto each manikin. lifetime project. bring detail back into these faces and ensure As you can imagine, this was not an that the expression in each was as I had intellectually or interpersonally simple project I thank James Rees, executive director, Mount Vernon Estate and envisioned (Figure 7). Stu was feisty about this to enact, but we did it. Every time I overhear Gardens, for entrusting me with this project and permission to reproduce images I took during this work. I also thank the many institutions whose curators made their Washington artifacts available process but, after hours of back and forth and someone comment not only on how lifelike for study.

s you can imagine, this was not an Aintellectually simple or interpersonally simple project to enact. But we did it.

62 WESTERN PENNSYLVANIA HISTORY | SPRING 2010