Scientific reconstruction reveals Beethoven’s ‘true’ face 200 years after his death

29 May 2025, 17:04

Ever wanted to know what your favourite composer really looked like?

Beethoven’s true ‘intimidating’ face has been revealed through scientific reconstruction almost 200 years after his death.

Cicero Moraes, the lead author of a new study exploring Beethoven’s life and legacy, has completed the first ever reconstruction of the composer’s appearance based on historical photographs of the musician’s skull provided by the Beethoven House in Bonn, Germany.

Read more: Have scientists solved the 230-year-old mystery of Mozart’s real face?

“The facial approximation was guided solely by the skull,” he said, “First I created 2D outlines – frontal and lateral – from the skull photographs. Then I modelled the skull in 3D using a virtual donor's tomography, adjusted to match the photos' proportions. I then added soft tissue thickness markers based on data from living Europeans, projected the nose, and traced the facial profile.”

He then added clothes and hair – also known as ‘subjective features' – based on Joseph Karl Stieler’s portrait of the composer. Final details were then enhanced with an AI tool.

“I found the face somewhat intimidating,” Moraes said.

While his face might be ‘intimidating’, as Beethoven said himself: “There are and will be a thousand princes; there is only one Beethoven”, and now we can see exactly what he looked like.