Face of Bonnie Prince Charlie redrawn using cast of death mask

A facial reconstruction of how Bonnie Prince Charlie looked in the last years of his life has been created using the Jacobite leader’s death mask.

Forensic artist Hew Morrison used a bronze cast of the original death mask made for the Prince in 1788 to make the image.

It is now on show at Inverness Art Gallery and Museum, where the death mask is also held.

Prince Charlies Edward Stuart, who died aged 68 from a stroke, appears in countless portraits but seldom sat for an artist.

How he truly appeared has been hard to determine over time given the multitude of images made of him, many which deliberately flattered the Prince or were used as Jacobite propaganda tools.

“We believe this new portrait is the only opportunity we have of coming face to face with a true likeness of Bonnie Prince Charlie,” a spokesman for High Life Highland, which runs the art gallery and museum, said.

It is believed to be the first time a museum object of this kind has been used to create a facial reconstruction.

Mr Morrison has worked on many high profile forensic reconstructions for museums across the country but more typically uses human skulls to recreate a face.

Mr Morrison said: “Working on this project has been a great opportunity to recreate the face of a highly significant individual from Scottish history.

“As the work progressed, what was revealed was the face of a curious, strong, but heavily burdened character.”

There are several known copies of Bonnie Prince Charlie’s death mask in museums and private collections within the UK.

A copy of the original mask was taken from Italy to Glasgow in 1839 by a descendant of the original maker.

Given to a family of modellers, it was then passed around several Glasgow sculpture studios where plaster copies were made to make a number of different sculpture.

A number of bronze copies of these plaster casts, which are said to have shown the Prince’s eyebrows and eyelashes, were arranged by self-styled clan leader DP Mackenzie.

Research by Inverness Museum and Art Gallery has found these were made by a Glasgow jeweller Smith and Rait in the late 1800s with the bronze casts sold to Hamilton & Inches Jeweller.

These were later passed on to three museums – Inverness, West Highland Museum in Fort William and the Hunterian in Glasgow.