Experts have digitally rebuilt the face of 18th century German composer Johann Sebastian Bach -- and say the results may surprise his fans.
Using his bones and computer modeling, they have come up with an image of a thick-set man with closely-shorn white hair.
The new Bach face, the creation of Scottish forensic anthropologist Caroline Wilkinson, will go on display at the Bachhaus museum in the eastern German town of Eisenach, Bach's birthplace, next month.
Eighteenth century portraits show him very differently. "For most people, Bach is an old man in a wig, it is a stylized image, we have no realistic portrait of him," Joerg Hansen, managing director of the museum said.
"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.
But it was mainly based on a portrait of the composer and contemporary critics said it was so inaccurate that it might as well have been the composer Handel.
"It's not really that important to know what he looked like, we love Bach through his music, that is why people come to the museum, but they are also interested in the man," Hansen said.
译文:
专家合成巴赫新形象
专家已经利用数字化技术还原了18世纪德国作曲家巴赫的容貌,据说这个结果让他的崇拜者非常吃惊.
专家们利用巴赫的颅骨和计算机建模技术合成了巴赫的新形象，从新形象看，他体格强壮，留着一头白色的短发．
巴赫的新形象出之苏格兰法医人类学家卡罗林威克深之手。下个月，这个画像将在巴赫故里德国东部小镇依申卡的巴赫博物馆展出。
这个新形象与18世纪的巴赫肖像差别很大。博物馆的管理经理乔治汉生说“在大多人眼里，巴赫是一个带着假发的老人，这只是一个模式化的形象，我们没有他真实的画像。”
我们知道巴赫体格健壮，他会唱歌跳舞，演奏的时候还会用脚打节奏。他活力四射，我们可以从这个新肖像上看到这点。
巴赫的遗骨在1894年的时候被挖掘出土。1908年，雕塑家们首次利用这些骨骼还原了一个巴赫的半身雕象。
但这尊雕像主要是以作曲家的一副肖像为样本的，现代很多评论家说这不太逼真，到更像作曲家亨德尔。
翰生说“他长什么样并不重要，我们因他的音乐而喜欢他，这也是我们去博物馆的原因。但是我们对巴赫本人还是很感兴趣的”。