Alessandro Tomasi
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About
Alessandro Tomasi is an Italian online artist specialized in facial reconstructions of ancient historical figures based on their busts, statues and physical descriptions of their time. Tomasi gained popularity thanks to the realistic appearance and detailed features of his recreations, which aspire in portraying the look of various historical figures as accurately as possible.
Online History
Tomasi's very first works can be traced to the 4chan board /his/. On August 30th, 2020, he started a thread sharing his reconstruction of Pericles, with the original bust next to it[1] (shown below). He stated in the opening post "To the anon who asked for a reconstruction of a Pericles bust in the thread that got deleted, here you go".
Impressed by it, anonymous /his/ users asked him to make more, of various other historical figures. As Tomasi posted more reconstructions, he answered a few questions about himself, and when the users asked him about Canadian cinematographer Daniel Voshart[2], Tomasi expressed his disdain for him and his ROMAN EMPEROR PROJECT[3], calling him a "canadian cuck" and "an afro-centrist idiot" who, unlike himself, was good at self-advertising. Tomasi then linked his Twitter account[4], stating that he was just getting started on the site and having barely any followers.
In the thread, an anonymous user questioned Voshart's Afrocentrism, and another user posted evidence of him considering various Roman emperors "Black", and using that to push his political agenda (shown below).
On January 26th, 2021, American-Lebanese essayist Nassim Nicholas Taleb retweeted Tomasi's reconstruction of Posidonius[5] (shown below, left). On January 28th, 2021, Medium user Peter Preskar featured in his article "Elagabalus: The Transgender Roman Emperor"[6] Tomasi's Elagabalus reconstruction from /his/ (shown below, right).
On February 10th, 2021, The Vale Magazine published an article[7] about Tomasi and his work, featuring his reconstruction of ancient Greek author Homer (shown below, left). On February 24th, 2021, Tomasi posted his reconstruction of Roman emperor Vitellius[8] (shown below, right), which would become his most popular work.
The Vitellius reconstruction was retweeted by Taleb[9] and by British author Tom Holland[10]. In the comments, Twitter user @Ozgur_Ozubek edited Vitellius' skin tone, making it lighter[11], only to be parodied upon by @NamaJeff19 who made his skin completely white[12] (shown below, left). Twitter user @suckmydick_jack retweeted Tomasi's Vitellius stating "This is just a guy from New Jersey"[13], receiving over 28,000 retweets and over 250,000 likes in 3 months (shown below, right).
On March 7th, 2021, a Virgin Vs Chad meme[14] featuring both Voshart and Tomasi, was posted on /his/ (shown below).
On March 19th, 2021 an anonymous /his/ user shared an edit[15] of Tomasi's profile picture that referenced Pepe The Frog (shown below, left), which was then replied with a "Yes." with the original profile picture (shown below, right) in reference to the Yes Chad.
Personal Life
In an interview on Bored Panda[16], Tomasi stated to be 20 years old, a student from Florence, and being of Italian and Lebanese descent. On /his/, Tomasi stated that he frequents a classical arts academy, and does these reconstructions for fun during his free time. In the interview on Bored Panda, he explained that he has always been interested in history, Greco-Roman and Phoenician history, in particular, and that he launched this little facial reconstruction project after seeing others do it online. He stated
“I decided to start doing these reconstructions after coming across other reconstructions on the internet, which have obviously been done by people with absolutely no knowledge about genetics or history. Other than the fact that it is very interesting for me to bring busts to life, the main reason I started making them is basically a response to the other historically inaccurate ones I saw."He also stated
“I would say the biggest challenge is trying to find the right bust to work from. I always try to find busts made during the lifetime of the person I am reconstructing the face of when I can, to be as accurate as possible.”
Bored Panda's article revealed that Hannibal Barca seemed to be his favorites work at that point, and also enjoyed how his reconstruction of Cicero turned out.
Search Interest
External References
[1] /his/ – Thread # 9357514
[2] Daniel Voshart – Daniel Voshart
[3] Daniel Voshart – ROMAN EMPEROR PROJECT
[4] Twitter – Alessandro Tomasi
[5] Twitter – Nicholas Nassim Taleb
[6] Medium – Elagabalus: The Transgender Roman Emperor
[7] The Vale Magazine – Alessandro Tomasi Revitalizes History With New Tech
[8] Twitter – Face reconstruction of the Roman emperor Vitellius
[9] Twitter – What gives me the impression that one of the descendants owns a few gas stations in New Jersey?
[10] Twitter – Like one of those listless animals which lie sluggish and torpid so long as you supply them with food. Tacitus on Vitellius.
[11] Twitter – Do you specificially pick that skin tone? Not pale, not sun tanned? It is kinda too reddish for my taste. Just asking your opinion. added an alternative here
[12] Twitter – Yo dude, you didn't make him white enough yet, here I fixed it for you
[13] Twitter – This is just a guy from New Jersey
[14] /his/ – Thread # 10602957
[15] /his/ – Thread # 10691392
[16] Bored Panda – Guy Uses Modern Software To Restore The Faces Of Julius Caesar And 23 Other People From Ancient History
Top Comments
The Greek Anon
Apr 09, 2021 at 09:39AM EDT
Griff the Hoplite
Apr 09, 2021 at 12:09PM EDT