The distortion of beauty & memory

I read on CNN (from Newcastle Uni) about the myth of Cleopatra (and supposedly Antony's) beauty.

This concept relates a lot to Elisa's work especially in regards to the re-rendering of memories, embellishment and 'hole filling'.

It also includes the idea that time distorts our perceptions and how even a photographic record can be easily misconstrued or manipulated to whatever purpose.

You have to wonder - looking at the coins themselves - if it's just been a bit of unflattering wear and tear. The above is in no way scientific but one could argue that the smile in the 'restored' version could equally be cause to re-evaluate the tyranny aspect of her attached mythology.

We always laugh when scientists have a collarbone or tooth of some long extinct animal and they then 'rebuild' the whole animal including horns and all from that one fragment. Obviously there are biological reference points but sometimes it comes across a bit 'Boy's Own'...