Forensic experts at the University of Dundee recently created an accurate 3D depiction of Robert Burns’s head by using casts of his skull and contemporary portraits. I was lucky enough to look into the Bard’s eyes, which seemed to look back with sentience and compassion. It was a profound, moving experience.

A week before Burns night in 2013 I watched a documentary that told the story of the head, from the forensic team’s painstaking reconstruction through to the eventual unveiling at the Robe...