Perhaps this is what Anne Boleyn looked like – but why should we care? | Jonathan Jones

Our fixation on the faces of the rich, powerful and royal is pathetic. History from below – such as the harrowing Lindow Man – simply gets forgotten

Putting faces on people from the past is a dangerous delusion. It makes us think we can understand past centuries more easily than is the case. But worse, it casts a spotlight on a tiny number of individuals and throws the vast majority of humankind into their shadow. Inevitably, the best-preserved, most-portrayed faces are those of the few – kings and queens, ladies and lords. Our obsession with knowing exactly what they looked like reveals a deeply conservative attitude to history that slavers over monarchs and forgets the lives of peasants.

Now it is Anne Boleyn whose face – apparently – shines out of the dark. Face recognition software has enabled Californian researchers to claim that a portrait held by Bradford Art Galleries and Museums is of Boleyn. Most of her portraits were destroyed after she was beheaded in 1536. Using a rare image of her on a coin as their template, the scientists matched it with the Bradford painting – but not with other supposed portraits of her.

Related: Possible Anne Boleyn portrait found using facial recognition software

Who built Thebes of the 7 gates?
In the books you will read the names of kings.
Did the kings haul up the lumps of rock?

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