Faces in the Mirror

Applying Geometric Morphometrics to 18th Century Portraits Depicting the Same Sitter

Abstract

This research constitutes an experimental case study to see if geometric morphometrics (statistical shape analysis) can help elucidate authenticity, likeness and artistic style in historical portraits depicting the same sitter. Specifically, we take this approach to identify which of a highly diverse range of original and derivative 18th century portraits depicting the Russian military commander, Generalissimo Alexander Vasilyevich Suvorov, show greater agreement with both the iconographic studies undertaken by 19th and 20th century Russian art historians, and the relatively reliable fluctuating asymmetries evident in Suvorov’s death mask. Our findings are that geometric morphometrics is able to identify the extent to which the depictions of the facial features vary, with the results indicating that the derivative works have tended to alter Suvorov’s head pose, there are inconsistencies in the representation of 2D perspective due to a strict adherence to artistic conventions of the period, and that some of the portraits considered derivative are more likely to be primary. Furthermore, an original oil painting by the Austrian Imperial Royal Court painter, Josef Kreutzinger (1757-1829), which was rapidly reproduced and widely dispersed across Western Europe and North America, has evidence of presenting the famously mirror-averse Suvorov in mirror-reverse. We have found, therefore, that geometric morphometrics may have a deep, as well as broad, applicability to the direct concerns of art historians.