11. Queen Elizabeth I Was Unmasked at a Recent Art Exhibit
The image of England’s Queen Elizabeth I is so iconic, pretty much everyone can recognize her. According to records, she wore a lot of white makeup made of vinegar and led to hide pockmarks on her skin. In all of her portraits, her skin looks flawless, because she wanted the world to believe that she was truly young, beautiful, and healthy enough to continue her rule. This is why many of her portraits look the same, even years apart. An artist named Mat Collishaw used digital scanning of her effigy death mask to get the general shape of her face. Then, they measured the distance of her eyes, lips, and nose in all of the portraits. Lastly, they used 3D printing to perfectly create a face. This face was placed on top of a robotic automaton so that it actually blinks like a real person. Creepy? Yes. But it’s accurate.