'Photos' Of Mona Lisa & Other 16th Century Icons Revealed

The 16th century has merged with the modern-day World to create a new photo series that shows how some of the most famous painters and paintings in history could have looked had camera technology been invented in the 16th century.

Rembrandt, Raphael, the Mona Lisa and The Blue Boy have all been rendered as photorealistic ‘selfie’ style portraits in a new digital art project, commissioned by Yesterday and UKTV Play, which used a combination of photography and digital manipulation to create the new images. 

A lookalike model was photographed, with styling and makeup to match the original painting, before final touches were made by a digital artist to create the best recreation of the iconic compositions – each taking a total of 36 hours to complete.

The creative team, led by digital artist Quentin Devine, worked together to transform four models into their classical painting counterparts – revealing to the public what the subjects of these portraits may have looked like in real life.  The team focussed on matching the styling, lighting, textures and overall composition of the paintings to produce the most detailed match of the original painting as possible.

Digital artist Quentin Devine says, "This was a fascinating project to work on, if not a bit intimidating when trying to imitate the skill of some of the most famous painters in history! Myself and the team have tried to create the most photo-realistic representation of these iconic artworks as we can, bringing them into the modern world for the first time."

The series was commissioned to celebrate a new TV show called Raiders of the Lost Art, which tells the stories behind missing masterpieces including the Mona Lisa. 

You can get a behind-the-scenes look at the shots in the below video.