What did Jesus look like? You know, don’t you? He has long, straight hair, a full beard, wears sandals and Arabic robes, he never smiles.
In Europe, he is depicted with fair skin and hair. What did he really look like? There are no clues from the Bible.
Early Images
The first images do not appear until two to three hundred years after his death and then in the catacombs of Rome. There is a statue from 300-350 AD found in the Domitilla Catacomb showing a sturdy, clean-shaven shepherd with curly hair. A picture from the 4th century shows a bearded man with curly hair and by the 6th century, the bearded man is well established.
There was a problem for the early church, ‘thou shalt have no graven image…’ and all that. In the Eastern church, Christ was the Pankrator or All Mighty, or was that God? Portraying God as a mere man was presumptuous. Some images tried to get around this by painting two faces, one representing God as Man and the other as Man representing God.
The Passion
By the 5th century pictures of the Passion were emerging and a long face with long straight hair was standard. To make sure viewers recognised which one was Jesus, the halo device was developed. Both East and West developed stylised iconographic pictures but the West began to strive for realism.
Lionel Blue, the Rabbi who often spoke on BBC ‘Thought for the Day’ related how, once he got to University and was off the leash, decided to visit a Christian Church. The violence and brutality of the depicted crucifixion scenes shocked him. I was similarly shocked when visiting the Vatican because of its intense focus on death and decay.
Nativity
On a happier note; nativity scenes made their appearance in the 4th century. No problem with beards and hair in those.
Does it Matter?
It was all a long time ago and does it really matter? I think it does. We should all be clear about what we know and what we do not know and acknowledge when we are pretending. The representation cropped up 2 weeks ago in Sri Lanka.
On Remembrance Sunday we attended Trinity College Chapel, Kandy. It is an architectural gem, dedicated in 1935. We know what churches should look like but Rev John Lewis Gaster, on the staff of the college and a qualified architect had other ideas and built in the vernacular style.
The reredos was painted by David Paynter, son of missionary parents but he studied art in London and travelled widely in Europe. The reredos depicts the crucifixion but, shock, horror at the time, Jesus is a brown man, clean shaven with no halo. What’s more, the crucifixion scene takes place in a mangrove swamp. Paynter (d 1975) executed other murals in the same vein.
More Nativity
Then we had our usual invitation to Hillwood College junior school Christmas Concert, part of which was a nativity scene. In previous years, Brenda, my wife, has helped produce these events. She always insisted that Baby Jesus was represented by a brown dolly. This year he was a white one, what’s more, his parents and attending angels etc were Buddhists, Hindus and Moslems. I think one child was Christian.
I have been invited to be Santa Claus because everybody knows he is an old white man, jolly and avuncular and rotund. I hope I can manage all these qualities but I’m secretly hoping to fail for not being rotund enough.
Great post, Mike, and I thought the images are lovely. I must admit I do have a soft spot for Jesus, the Light of the World by William Hunt, partly because I saw it a lot in my childhood church.
Also it is a good painting but I remember thinking it odd even back then Jesus being portrayed as a white man. He would have been of Mediterranean appearance at the lightest (!) and given the amount of walking the gospels show Jesus as doing, He would have been out in the open air a lot and likely to be considerably browner.
The lack of a beard is, to my mind, more odd, given EVERY picture or image of Christ I have seen always shows plenty of facial hair. Delighted to hear of the other faiths joining in with the Nativity story, that’s always good to hear.
As for being Santa, good luck! I have a relative who, thanks to his build and excellent beard quality, is in demand around where he lives from late November onwards for the same role!
Wm Homan Hunt’s ‘Light of the World’ is in Keble College, Oxford. Hunt was dismayed that people were charged to look at it so, in later life, he painted another version which is in St Paul’s Cathedral.
Keble College doesn’t charge to look now but, if you want the lights on, you have to put coins in a slot. Choose a sunny day and there is sufficient light.
There is a pastel version in Manchester Art gallery as well.
I never knew this, Mike. My sympathies are entirely with William Hunt.
Fascinating subject. We used to discuss Images of Jesus at Consultations on Theology and Science at Windsor Castle, and I recall a very strong opinion expressed by the Queen. If I can reach the standard required for wordpress I will add it to previous attempts.
In Napier Cathedral, NZ, there’s a wooden carving of The Last Supper where all the faces have the features of Mauris
That sounds fascinating, Chippy. I’d love to get to NZ one day. If I do, I would like to go and see that.
Napier Cathedral, incidentally is also the most easterly cathedral in the world.