ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Siegfried Woldhek - Illustrator
Siegfried Woldhek knows faces -- he's drawn more than 1,100 of them. Using sophisticated image analysis and his own skills as an artist, he's come up with a fascinating discovery about Leonardo Da Vinci.

Why you should listen

The work of illustrator Siegfried Woldhek is a familiar sight in the European press. His witty pen and sharp eye for faces helps him capture political and literary figures in his home country, the Netherlands, and around the world (he estimates he's drawn 1,100 faces). He's also an accomplished illustrator of nature, and was the longtime CEO of the Dutch branch of the World Wildlife Fund.

Woldhek is the founder of nabuur.com, "the global neighbor network." On nabuur.com, villages in developing communities can connect with volunteers and resources online throughout the world -- sort of a Match.com that pairs communities with the people who'd like to get involved.

More profile about the speaker
Siegfried Woldhek | Speaker | TED.com
TED2008

Siegfried Woldhek: The search for the true face of Leonardo

Siegfried Woldhek mostra com va trobar la veritable cara de Leonardo

Filmed:
1,343,993 views

Mona Lisa és una de les cares més conegudes del planeta. Però reconeixeríeu una imatge de Leonardo da Vinci? L'il·lustrador Siegfried Woldhek utilitza algunes meditades tècniques d'anàlisi d'imatges per trobar la que creu que és la veritable cara de Leonardo.
- Illustrator
Siegfried Woldhek knows faces -- he's drawn more than 1,100 of them. Using sophisticated image analysis and his own skills as an artist, he's come up with a fascinating discovery about Leonardo Da Vinci. Full bio

Double-click the English transcript below to play the video.

00:12
Good morningmatí.
0
0
2000
Bon dia.
00:14
Let's look for a minuteminut at the greatestel més gran iconicona of all, LeonardoLeonardo dada VinciVinci.
1
2000
5000
Mirem un moment la més gran icona de totes, Leonardo da Vinci.
00:19
We're all familiarfamiliar with his fantasticfantàstic work --
2
7000
3000
Tots estem familiaritzats amb la seva fantàstica obra...
00:22
his drawingsdibuixos, his paintingspintures, his inventionsinvencions, his writingsescrits.
3
10000
3000
els seus dibuixos, les seves pintures, les seves invencions, els seus escrits.
00:25
But we do not know his facecara.
4
13000
2000
Però no coneixem la seva cara.
00:27
ThousandsMilers of booksllibres have been writtenescrit about him,
5
15000
3000
S'han escrit milers de llibres sobre ell.
00:30
but there's controversycontrovèrsia, and it remainsqueda, about his looksaspecte.
6
18000
4000
però hi ha controvèrsia, i es manté, sobre la seva aparença.
00:34
Even this well-knownconeguts portraitretrat is not acceptedacceptat by manymolts artart historianshistoriadors.
7
22000
5000
Inclús el seu famós retrat no és acceptat per molts historiadors de l'art.
00:39
So, what do you think?
8
27000
2000
Així, què en penseu?
00:41
Is this the facecara of LeonardoLeonardo dada VinciVinci or isn't it?
9
29000
3000
És aquesta la cara de Leonardo da Vinci o no?
00:44
Let's find out.
10
32000
3000
Esbrinem-ho.
00:47
LeonardoLeonardo was a man that drewva dibuixar everything around him.
11
35000
3000
Leonardo va ser un home que dibuixava tot el que tenia al voltant.
00:50
He drewva dibuixar people, anatomyanatomia, plantsplantes, animalsanimals, landscapespaisatges, buildingsedificis, wateraigua, everything.
12
38000
8000
Va dibuixar persones, anatomia, plantes, animals, paisatges, edicifis, aigua, tot.
00:58
But no facescares?
13
46000
2000
Però, cap cara?
01:00
I find that harddur to believe.
14
48000
2000
Em sembla difícil de creure.
01:02
His contemporariescontemporanis madefet facescares, like the onesuns you see here --
15
50000
3000
Els seus contemporanis van fer cares, com les que veieu aquí.
01:05
enen facecara or three-quarterstres quartes parts.
16
53000
2000
De front o tres quarts.
01:07
So, surelysegurament a passionateapassionat drawercalaix like LeonardoLeonardo
17
55000
3000
Així que un dibuixant apassionat com Leonardo segurament
01:10
musthaver de have madefet self-portraitsautoretrats from time to time.
18
58000
3000
deu haver fet autoretrats de tant en tant.
01:14
So let's try to find them.
19
62000
2000
Així que mirem de trobar-los.
01:16
I think that if we were to scanescaneig all of his work
20
64000
3000
Crec que si escanegéssim tota la seva obra
01:19
and look for self-portraitsautoretrats, we would find his facecara looking at us.
21
67000
4000
i busquéssim autoretrats, trobaríem la seva cara mirant-nos.
01:23
So I lookedmirava at all of his drawingsdibuixos, more than 700,
22
71000
4000
Així que em vaig mirar tots els seus dibuixos, més de 700.
01:27
and lookedmirava for malemascle portraitsretrats.
23
75000
3000
i vaig buscar retrats d'homes.
01:30
There are about 120, you see them here.
24
78000
3000
Hi ha uns 120, els veieu aquí.
01:33
WhichQue onesuns of these could be self-portraitsautoretrats?
25
81000
2000
Quins d'aquests podrien ser autoretrats?
01:35
Well, for that they have to be donefet as we just saw, enen facecara or three-quarterstres quartes parts.
26
83000
5000
Bé, perquè haurien d'haver estat fets com hem vist, de front o tres quarts.
01:40
So we can eliminateeliminar all the profilesperfils.
27
88000
3000
De manera que podem eliminar tots els perfils.
01:43
It alsotambé has to be sufficientlyprou detaileddetallada.
28
91000
2000
També ha de ser suficientment detallat.
01:45
So we can alsotambé eliminateeliminar the onesuns that are very vaguevague or very stylizedestilitzada.
29
93000
6000
Així que podem també eliminar els que són molt imprecissos o molt estilitzats.
01:51
And we know from his contemporariescontemporanis
30
99000
2000
I sabem pels seus contemporanis
01:53
that LeonardoLeonardo was a very handsomeguapo, even beautifulbonic man.
31
101000
3000
que Leonardo era un home molt atractiu, inclús bonic.
01:56
So we can alsotambé eliminateeliminar the uglylleig onesuns or the caricaturescaricatures.
32
104000
4000
De manera que també podem elimar els lletjos o les caricatures.
02:00
(LaughterRiure)
33
108000
1000
(Rialles)
02:01
And look what happenspassa -- only threetres candidatescandidats remainromanen that fiten forma the billfactura.
34
109000
5000
I mireu què passa -- només quadren tres candidats.
02:06
And here they are.
35
114000
2000
I són aquests.
02:08
Yes, indeeden efecte, the oldvell man is there,
36
116000
2000
Sí, efectivament, el vell és un d'ells,
02:10
as is this famousfamós penbolígraf drawingdibuix of the HomoHomo VitruvianusVitruvianus.
37
118000
3000
com ho és el seu famós dibuix a tinta de l'home de Vitruvi.
02:13
And lastlyfinalment, the only portraitretrat of a malemascle that LeonardoLeonardo paintedpintat, "The MusicianMúsic."
38
121000
5000
I finalment, l'únic retrat d'un home que Leonardo va pintar, "El músic".
02:18
Before we go into these facescares,
39
126000
2000
Abans que entrem en aquestes cares,
02:20
I should explainexplica why I have some right to talk about them.
40
128000
3000
hauria d'explicar perquè tinc dret a parlar sobre elles.
02:23
I've madefet more than 1,100 portraitsretrats myselfjo mateix
41
131000
4000
Jo mateix he fet més de 1.100 retrats
02:27
for newspapersdiaris, over the coursecurs of 300 -- 30 yearsanys, sorry, 30 yearsanys only.
42
135000
4000
per a diaris, al llarg de 300 -- perdó, 30 anys, només 30 anys.
02:31
(LaughterRiure)
43
139000
1000
(Rialles)
02:32
But there are 1,100, and very fewpocs artistsartistes have drawndibuixat so manymolts facescares.
44
140000
5000
Però hi ha 1.100, i molt pocs artistes han dibuixat tantes cares.
02:37
So I know a little about drawingdibuix and analyzinganalitzant facescares.
45
145000
3000
Així que en sé una mica, de dibuixar i analitzar cares.
02:40
OK, now let's look at these threetres portraitsretrats.
46
148000
3000
D'acord, ara mirem aquests tres retrats.
02:43
And holdaguantar ontosobre your seatsseients, because if we zoomzoom in on those facescares,
47
151000
3000
I agafeu-vos a la cadira, perquè si fem zoom sobre aquestes cares,
02:46
remarkobservació how they have the samemateix broadampli foreheadfront, the horizontalhoritzontal eyebrowscelles,
48
154000
4000
noteu com tenen el mateix front ample, les celles horitzontals,
02:50
the long nosenas, the curvedcorbada lipsllavis and the smallpetit, well-developedben desenvolupat chinbarbeta.
49
158000
3000
el nas llarg, els llavis corbs, i la barbeta petita i ben desenvolupada.
02:53
I couldn'tno podia believe my eyesulls when I first saw that.
50
161000
3000
No podia creure els meus ulls el primer cop que ho vaig veure.
02:56
There is no reasonraó why these portraitsretrats should look alikeigual.
51
164000
2000
No hi ha cap motiu pel qual aquests retrats s'haurien de semblar.
02:58
All we did was look for portraitsretrats that had the characteristicscaracterístiques of a self-portraitAutoretrat,
52
166000
4000
Tot el que vam fer va ser buscar retrats que tinguessin les característiques d'un autoretrat.
03:02
and look, they are very similarsimilar.
53
170000
2000
i mireu, són molt semblants.
03:04
Now, are they madefet in the right orderordre?
54
172000
3000
Ara bé, estan fets en l'ordre correcte?
03:07
The youngjove man should be madefet first.
55
175000
2000
L'home jove hauria de fer-se primer.
03:09
And as you see here from the yearsanys that they were createdcreat,
56
177000
2000
I com veieu aquí pels anys en què van ser creats,
03:11
it is indeeden efecte the casecas.
57
179000
2000
n'és justament el cas.
03:13
They are madefet in the right orderordre.
58
181000
2000
Estan fets en l'ordre correcte.
03:15
What was the ageedat of LeonardoLeonardo at the time? Does that fiten forma?
59
183000
2000
Quina era l'edat de Leonardo en aquell moment? Concorda?
03:17
Yes, it does. He was 33, 38 and 63 when these were madefet.
60
185000
3000
Sí, concorda. Tenia 33, 38 i 63 anys quan es van fer.
03:20
So we have threetres picturesimatges, potentiallypotencialment of the samemateix personpersona
61
188000
4000
Així que tenim tres pintures, potencialment de la mateixa persona
03:24
of the samemateix ageedat as LeonardoLeonardo at the time.
62
192000
2000
de la mateixa edat que tenia Leonardo en aquell moment.
03:26
But how do we know it's him, and not someonealgú elsealtra cosa?
63
194000
3000
Però com sabem que és ell, i no algú altre?
03:29
Well, we need a referencereferència.
64
197000
2000
Bé, ens cal una referència.
03:31
And here'sheus aquí the only pictureimatge of LeonardoLeonardo that's widelyàmpliament acceptedacceptat.
65
199000
4000
I aquí teniu l'únic retrat de Leonardo que és generalment acceptat.
03:35
It's a statueestàtua madefet by VerrocchioVerrocchio, of DavidDavid,
66
203000
3000
És una estàtua feta per Verrocchio, de David,
03:38
for whichquin LeonardoLeonardo posedque planteja as a boynoi of 15.
67
206000
2000
per a la qual Leonardo va posar quan tenia 15 anys.
03:40
And if we now comparecomparar the facecara of the statueestàtua,
68
208000
3000
I si ara comparem la cara de l'estàtua,
03:43
with the facecara of the musicianmúsic, you see the very samemateix featurescaracterístiques again.
69
211000
4000
amb la cara del músic, veieu exactament els mateixos trets un altre cop.
03:47
The statueestàtua is the referencereferència, and it connectses connecta the identityidentitat of LeonardoLeonardo
70
215000
3000
L'estàtua és la referència, i connecta la identitat de Leonardo
03:50
to those threetres facescares.
71
218000
2000
amb aquestes tres cares.
03:52
LadiesSenyores and gentlemensenyors, this storyhistòria has not yetencara been publishedpublicat.
72
220000
5000
Senyores i senyors, aquesta història encara no ha estat publicada.
03:57
It's only properadequada that you here at TEDTED hearescoltar and see it first.
73
225000
3000
És simplement apropiat que ho escolteu i veien aquí a TED en primer lloc.
04:00
The iconicona of iconsicones finallyfinalment has a facecara.
74
228000
3000
L'icona d'icones finalment té una cara.
04:03
Here he is: LeonardoLeonardo dada VinciVinci.
75
231000
2000
Aquí la teniu -- Leonardo da Vinci.
04:05
(ApplauseAplaudiments)
76
233000
7000
(Aplaudiments)
Translated by Mer Moreno
Reviewed by Carmen Vega-Reina

▲Back to top

ABOUT THE SPEAKER
Siegfried Woldhek - Illustrator
Siegfried Woldhek knows faces -- he's drawn more than 1,100 of them. Using sophisticated image analysis and his own skills as an artist, he's come up with a fascinating discovery about Leonardo Da Vinci.

Why you should listen

The work of illustrator Siegfried Woldhek is a familiar sight in the European press. His witty pen and sharp eye for faces helps him capture political and literary figures in his home country, the Netherlands, and around the world (he estimates he's drawn 1,100 faces). He's also an accomplished illustrator of nature, and was the longtime CEO of the Dutch branch of the World Wildlife Fund.

Woldhek is the founder of nabuur.com, "the global neighbor network." On nabuur.com, villages in developing communities can connect with volunteers and resources online throughout the world -- sort of a Match.com that pairs communities with the people who'd like to get involved.

More profile about the speaker
Siegfried Woldhek | Speaker | TED.com