URBINO - Raphael had a beautiful, gentle and determined face at the same time, but with a prominent nose, square jaw and protruding chin: this is the appearance of the great painter from Urbino in 1520 at the age of his death (37 years), according to the reconstruction in 3D performed by the anthropologists of the Tor Vergata University. On 28 June in the birthplace of Sanzio in Urbino the bust of Raphael made of plastic polymers with a 3D printer and reconstructed starting from a plaster cast of the skull believed by the painter, made in 1833 on the occasion of the exhumation of the artist, was delivered and exhibited. and now on display in the Raffaello Birthplace Museum owned by the Raffaello Academy.
The professors of the Roman University Mattia Falconi, Olga Rickards, Cristina Martinez and Raoul Carbone explained how it was possible to achieve this result, which began with an inspection in Urbino on October 17, 2019 and concluded with a master's thesis by Valeria Ridolfi. The student started from a photo of the cast of the skull and carried out her study using only the computer, with applications for forensic anthropology and for the video game sector. Among the many representations of Raphael's face, the one that seems closest to this reconstruction is a portrait of Sebastiano Luciani Del Piombo kept in Budapest, which would therefore have depicted his rival of the time. The president of the Raffaello Academy, Luigi Bravi,he recalled that the birthplace contains many images and busts of Raphael, but only this reconstruction is based on in-depth scientific studies, according to which this was precisely the adult aspect of the great painter. Bust and cast are now on display in a glass case in the museum.