GaryMrMets
10-15-2006, 11:04 PM
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/george-washington-cuts-a-fine-figure/20061014191809990026?ncid=NWS00010000000001
Updated: 02:12 PM EDT
George Washington Cuts a Fine Figure
First-Ever Forensic Reconstructions Will Be Displayed at Mount Vernon
By MARIA PUENTE, USA TODAY
MOUNT VERNON, Va. (Oct. 13) -- Forget what you think George Washington looked like -- that familiar face on the dollar bill -- because he didn't. In fact, the Father of Our Country was not always well served by his portraitists (or his dentists).
This becomes all the more apparent after a visit to the new Mount Vernon museum and visitors' orientation center, which opens Oct. 27 at the first president's 18th-century estate in the Virginia countryside south of the national capital named for him. It's the first major expansion of Mount Vernon in more than 140 years.
Now, thanks to the latest techniques in forensic reconstructions, visitors can see what Washington actually looked like: a flesh-and-blood man -- tall, vigorous, good-looking and, dare we say, sexy. Who knew?
The Ladies -- that is, the Mount Vernon Ladies Society -- knew, and now they're trying to make sure more Americans know. Because despite the pervasiveness of Washington's image in our culture, surveys of Mount Vernon visitors (there are about 1 million a year, the most of any historic home in the USA) show that as the years have passed, fewer Americans have a full understanding of Washington's life, character and indispensable role in creating the nation.
So the society, which has owned and run the estate since 1860, has spent the past three years and $60 million on an expansion project to increase knowledge of the first national action hero -- and every penny of it shows.
As America's oldest house museum, Mount Vernon was an exemplar of 19th-century ideas about historic preservation and museum management. Now it has been transformed into a 21st-century, high-tech, state-of-the-science-and-art museum experience -- without disturbing one square inch of the mansion itself.
"We're trying to get people to leave here knowing the real Washington," says Jim Rees, Mount Vernon's executive director.
The two new buildings, the Ford Orientation Center (named for longtime Mount Vernon donor Ford Motor Co.) and the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center (named for the Las Vegas-based foundation that also donated $30 million in 2001 to buy the 1796 Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington for the National Portrait Gallery), total 65,000 square feet, most of it underground, beneath a sheep-dappled pasture adjacent to the mansion.
There's enough in both to compel the attention of even the most history-phobic child (or adult): such as the "immersive theater experience" that offers an authentic sense of Revolutionary War battles, right down to the snow falling and the fog curling as the seats rumble with cannon fire.
"We want to engage people in real history with real stories brought to life," says Dennis Earl Moore, the New York filmmaker whose company made the film.
The 23-gallery museum is especially welcome because it goes into more detail about the whole of Washington's military and political career. Much of that was not on display in the mansion, which features only things in the house when Washington lived there.
Still, in an era when CSI-style forensic dramas are the most popular shows on television, visitors may be most drawn to the first-ever forensic reconstructions of Washington -- at age 19 as a young surveyor, at age 45 as a general, and at age 57 as president.
Unlike on TV, they did not dig Washington up from his grave on the grounds of the estate. Instead, Rees enlisted a team of experts — forensic anthropologist, computer scientist, artist/sculptor, even wax painters from Madame Tussauds — to analyze three-dimensional scans of the Jean-Antoine Houdon portrait bust (believed to be the best likeness of him), Washington's dentures, his clothing and other portraits, to create the three life-size figures.
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/george-washington-cuts-a-fine-figure/20061014193109990003
(Page 2 of 2)
They have wax heads and real human hair on plaster bodies dressed in period clothing, and they are startlingly persuasive.
Gone is that distant, off-putting mask of a pursed-lipped Washington by such portraitists as Stuart (Washington looks pained in these pictures probably because he was -- from his fiendishly uncomfortable dentures). Instead, Washington well into his 50s looked like what he was: an 18th-century English-American country squire, a tall, hale-and-hearty sort of fellow, with a broad face, pale skin that turned red easily, pale-blue eyes and reddish hair. Far from stiff and cold, he seems graceful and warm, athletic and healthy (except for his unfortunate teeth, which he began losing at age 24).
At the end of a few hours, visitors will have a better grasp of who Washington was -- "a good man, not just a great man," says historian Peter Henriques, author of Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington.
Yes, he was brave and charismatic, smart and politically astute. He was the kind of man that men would follow, but not so power-obsessed that he would accept the crown offered by some of his more overenthusiastic admirers.
"He seeks fame but it is honest, meaning honorable, fame," Henriques says. "Washington became the man he strove to be."
10-14-06 20:03 EDT
How significant are the differences between the "old" and "new" Washington looks?
Very
Slightly
No difference
Whose portrayal of Washington do you think is more accurate?
18th-century artists
Present-day forensic scientists
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/08/04/20061014185409990001
Forensic reconstructionists created a model of George Washington as he likely appeared as a 19-year-old surveyor. It will be displayed at Mount Vernon.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/09/00/20061014185809990001
Many think of the United States' first president as he appeared in Gilbert Stuart's 1796 oil on canvas portrait.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/01/05/20061014185709990007
A team of artists and scientists believe this is what General Washington looked like at age 45, when leading the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/01/01/20061014185909990001
Charles Wilson Peale's 1777 engraving portrays Washington at age 45 as a much older-looking general.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/01/02/20061014185909990002
Mount Vernon enlisted a forensic anthropologist, computer scientist, artist/sculptor, and even wax painters from Madame Tussauds to accurately depict Washington.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/09/00/20061014185609990003
He's portrayed here at age 57, taking the oath of office. Source: USA Today
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/0d/02/20061014190009990007
Washington's Mount Vernon home, in Virginia, is both America's oldest house museum and its most visited with about one million tourists each year.
Updated: 02:12 PM EDT
George Washington Cuts a Fine Figure
First-Ever Forensic Reconstructions Will Be Displayed at Mount Vernon
By MARIA PUENTE, USA TODAY
MOUNT VERNON, Va. (Oct. 13) -- Forget what you think George Washington looked like -- that familiar face on the dollar bill -- because he didn't. In fact, the Father of Our Country was not always well served by his portraitists (or his dentists).
This becomes all the more apparent after a visit to the new Mount Vernon museum and visitors' orientation center, which opens Oct. 27 at the first president's 18th-century estate in the Virginia countryside south of the national capital named for him. It's the first major expansion of Mount Vernon in more than 140 years.
Now, thanks to the latest techniques in forensic reconstructions, visitors can see what Washington actually looked like: a flesh-and-blood man -- tall, vigorous, good-looking and, dare we say, sexy. Who knew?
The Ladies -- that is, the Mount Vernon Ladies Society -- knew, and now they're trying to make sure more Americans know. Because despite the pervasiveness of Washington's image in our culture, surveys of Mount Vernon visitors (there are about 1 million a year, the most of any historic home in the USA) show that as the years have passed, fewer Americans have a full understanding of Washington's life, character and indispensable role in creating the nation.
So the society, which has owned and run the estate since 1860, has spent the past three years and $60 million on an expansion project to increase knowledge of the first national action hero -- and every penny of it shows.
As America's oldest house museum, Mount Vernon was an exemplar of 19th-century ideas about historic preservation and museum management. Now it has been transformed into a 21st-century, high-tech, state-of-the-science-and-art museum experience -- without disturbing one square inch of the mansion itself.
"We're trying to get people to leave here knowing the real Washington," says Jim Rees, Mount Vernon's executive director.
The two new buildings, the Ford Orientation Center (named for longtime Mount Vernon donor Ford Motor Co.) and the Donald W. Reynolds Museum and Education Center (named for the Las Vegas-based foundation that also donated $30 million in 2001 to buy the 1796 Gilbert Stuart portrait of Washington for the National Portrait Gallery), total 65,000 square feet, most of it underground, beneath a sheep-dappled pasture adjacent to the mansion.
There's enough in both to compel the attention of even the most history-phobic child (or adult): such as the "immersive theater experience" that offers an authentic sense of Revolutionary War battles, right down to the snow falling and the fog curling as the seats rumble with cannon fire.
"We want to engage people in real history with real stories brought to life," says Dennis Earl Moore, the New York filmmaker whose company made the film.
The 23-gallery museum is especially welcome because it goes into more detail about the whole of Washington's military and political career. Much of that was not on display in the mansion, which features only things in the house when Washington lived there.
Still, in an era when CSI-style forensic dramas are the most popular shows on television, visitors may be most drawn to the first-ever forensic reconstructions of Washington -- at age 19 as a young surveyor, at age 45 as a general, and at age 57 as president.
Unlike on TV, they did not dig Washington up from his grave on the grounds of the estate. Instead, Rees enlisted a team of experts — forensic anthropologist, computer scientist, artist/sculptor, even wax painters from Madame Tussauds — to analyze three-dimensional scans of the Jean-Antoine Houdon portrait bust (believed to be the best likeness of him), Washington's dentures, his clothing and other portraits, to create the three life-size figures.
http://articles.news.aol.com/news/_a/george-washington-cuts-a-fine-figure/20061014193109990003
(Page 2 of 2)
They have wax heads and real human hair on plaster bodies dressed in period clothing, and they are startlingly persuasive.
Gone is that distant, off-putting mask of a pursed-lipped Washington by such portraitists as Stuart (Washington looks pained in these pictures probably because he was -- from his fiendishly uncomfortable dentures). Instead, Washington well into his 50s looked like what he was: an 18th-century English-American country squire, a tall, hale-and-hearty sort of fellow, with a broad face, pale skin that turned red easily, pale-blue eyes and reddish hair. Far from stiff and cold, he seems graceful and warm, athletic and healthy (except for his unfortunate teeth, which he began losing at age 24).
At the end of a few hours, visitors will have a better grasp of who Washington was -- "a good man, not just a great man," says historian Peter Henriques, author of Realistic Visionary: A Portrait of George Washington.
Yes, he was brave and charismatic, smart and politically astute. He was the kind of man that men would follow, but not so power-obsessed that he would accept the crown offered by some of his more overenthusiastic admirers.
"He seeks fame but it is honest, meaning honorable, fame," Henriques says. "Washington became the man he strove to be."
10-14-06 20:03 EDT
How significant are the differences between the "old" and "new" Washington looks?
Very
Slightly
No difference
Whose portrayal of Washington do you think is more accurate?
18th-century artists
Present-day forensic scientists
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/08/04/20061014185409990001
Forensic reconstructionists created a model of George Washington as he likely appeared as a 19-year-old surveyor. It will be displayed at Mount Vernon.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/09/00/20061014185809990001
Many think of the United States' first president as he appeared in Gilbert Stuart's 1796 oil on canvas portrait.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/01/05/20061014185709990007
A team of artists and scientists believe this is what General Washington looked like at age 45, when leading the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/01/01/20061014185909990001
Charles Wilson Peale's 1777 engraving portrays Washington at age 45 as a much older-looking general.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/01/02/20061014185909990002
Mount Vernon enlisted a forensic anthropologist, computer scientist, artist/sculptor, and even wax painters from Madame Tussauds to accurately depict Washington.
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/09/00/20061014185609990003
He's portrayed here at age 57, taking the oath of office. Source: USA Today
http://cdn.news.aol.com/aolnews_photos/0d/02/20061014190009990007
Washington's Mount Vernon home, in Virginia, is both America's oldest house museum and its most visited with about one million tourists each year.