Mozart is reborn in artist’s striking 3D colourised sculptures

3 February 2021, 10:35

One of history’s greatest composers, as you’ve never seen him before...

An artist has created a 3D colourised portrait of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, and it’s incredibly striking.

By studying four authentic paintings of the Classical composer as an adult, Hadi Karimi was able to craft a lifelike rendering of the historic figure.

Depictions of Mozart have hugely varied from painting to painting, so Hadi honed in on the particular features that all the composer’s portrayals had in common, to create his accurate depiction.

This is how the composer could have looked if he were alive today...

Read more: Bach’s face revealed in artist’s extraordinary 3D sculptures >

The fascinating artwork was created using software called ZBrush, with colour texture added through Substance Painter.

But, as Hadi explains in his Instagram caption, drawing a face from varying references can be a bit of a challenge.

Read more: See Beethoven’s ‘real’ face in artist’s 3D colourised portraits >

“There are four authentic portraits of his adulthood that all were praised for their accuracy but at least one family member or close friend said at the same time they look so different,” the computer graphics artist explained.

“I tried to find the unanimous features of all those paintings.”

The portraits Hadi studied included the so-called “Bologna Mozart” painting, Johann Nepomuk della Croce’s 1780 depiction and possibly his most famous rendering of all: Barbara Krafft’s posthumous portrait.

Excitingly, Mozart isn’t the first maestro to be reconstructed in this realistic manner.

The Iranian artist has also created lifelike depictions of Johann Sebastian Bach, Ludwig van Beethoven and Frédéric Chopin (see below).

Speaking to Classic FM, Karimi revealed the motivation behind his projects: “We grew up with all these beautiful symphonies and memorable melodies, but do we know the minds behind them?

“Sometimes we remember them by just a name and if we’re lucky there’s a painting or a black and white photo from centuries ago that could barely show us what they actually looked like.”

Read more: Chopin’s face is brought to life in artist’s incredible 3D portraits >

He added: “In this series of facial reconstructions, not only did I gather the references like photographs, paintings, and life and death masks, but also took a step further to study their personality so that I could reflect that in their facial expressions.

“I hope that I did them justice.”