The conversation
The long story of how Jesus came to look like a white European
Painting depicting the transfiguration of Jesus, a story in the New Testament when Jesus becomes radiant on a mountain. Raphael Artist / Collections Hallwyl Museum, CC BY-SALeer en español The representation of Jesus as a white European man underwent renewed scrutiny during this period of introspection about the legacy of racism in society. While protesters called for the removal of Confederate statues in the United States, activist Shaun King went further, suggesting that murals and artwork depicting “white Jesus” should “come down”. His concerns about the representation of Christ and how it is used to defend the notions of white supremacy are not isolated. Prominent scholars and the Archbishop of Canterbury have asked to reconsider Jesus’ representation as a white man. As a historian of European Renaissance art, I study the evolution of the image of Jesus Christ from 1350 to 1600 AD. Some of the best-known depictions of Christ, from Leonardo da Vinci’s “Last Supper” to Michelangelo’s “Last Judgment” in the Sistine Chapel, were produced during this period. But the image of Jesus most reproduced in all times comes from another period. It is the “Head of Christ” by Warner Sallman, with light eyes and light hair, from 1940. Sallman, a former commercial artist who created art for advertising campaigns, successfully marketed this image worldwide. Sallman’s ‘Head of Christ’ Through Sallman’s partnerships with two Christian publishers, one Protestant and one Catholic, the Head of Christ came to be included in everything from prayer cards to stained glass, fake oil paintings, calendars, hymnals and night lights. Sallman’s painting culminates a long tradition of white Europeans creating and disseminating paintings of Christ made in his own image. In Search of the Sacred Face The historical Jesus probably had the brown eyes and skin of other Jews from the first century of Galilee, a region of biblical Israel. But no one knows exactly what Jesus looked like. There are no known images of Jesus from his life, and although Old Testament kings Saul and David are explicitly called tall and handsome in the Bible, there is little indication of Jesus’ appearance in the Old or New Testament. ‘The good Shepherd.’ Joseph Wilpert Even these texts are contradictory: The Old Testament prophet Isaiah reads that the coming savior “had no beauty or majesty”, while the book of Psalms states that he was “more righteous than the children of men”, the word ” fair “referring to physical beauty. The first images of Jesus Christ emerged from the first to the third century AD, amid concerns about idolatry. They had less to do with capturing the real appearance of Christ than with clarifying his role as ruler or savior. To clearly indicate these roles, early Christian artists often relied on syncretism, which meant that they combined visual formats from other cultures. [Deep knowledge, daily. Sign up for The Conversation’s newsletter.] Probably the most popular syncretic image is Christ as the Good Shepherd, a young, unshaven figure based on pagan representations of Orpheus, Hermes and Apollo. In other common representations, Christ uses the emperor’s robe or other attributes. Theologian Richard Viladesau argues that the mature bearded Christ, with long hair in the “Syrian” style, combines characteristics of the Greek god Zeus and the figure of the Old Testament Samson, among others. Christ as self-portrait The first portraits of Christ, in the sense of authorized similarities, were considered self-portraits: the miraculous “image not made by human hands” or acheiropoietos. Acheiropoietos. Tretiakov Gallery, Moscow This belief originated in the 7th century AD, based on the legend that Christ healed King Abgar of Edessa in present-day Urfa, Turkey, through a miraculous image of his face, now known as Mandylion. A similar legend adopted by Western Christianity between the 11th and 14th centuries relates how, before his death by crucifixion, Christ left an impression of his face on the veil of Saint Veronica, an image known as volto santo, or “Sacred Face”. Christ crowned with thorns. Artist Antonello da Messina. The Friedsam Collection, legacy of Michael Friedsam, 1931, Metropolitan Museum, New York These two images, along with other similar relics, formed the basis of iconic traditions about the “true image” of Christ. From the point of view of art history, these artifacts reinforced an already standardized image of a bearded Christ with dark hair at shoulder height. In the Renaissance, European artists began to combine the icon and the portrait, making Christ in his own image. This happened for a variety of reasons, from identifying with Christ’s human suffering to commenting on his own creative power. Albrecht Dürer. Collections Albrecht Dürer / Alte Pinakothek The 15th century Sicilian painter Antonello da Messina, for example, painted small pictures of the suffering Christ formatted exactly like his portraits of ordinary people, with the theme positioned between a fictional parapet and a plain, signed black background “ Antonello da Messina painted me. ” 16th-century German artist Albrecht Dürer blurred the line between the sacred face and his own image in a 1500 self-portrait. In this, he posed frontally as an icon, with his beard and lush hair at shoulder height reminiscent of Christ. The monogram “AD” can also represent “Albrecht Dürer” or “Anno Domini” – “in the year of our Lord”. In whose image? This phenomenon was not restricted to Europe: there are pictures of Jesus from the 16th and 17th centuries with, for example, Ethiopian and Indian features. In Europe, however, the image of a fair-skinned European Christ began to influence other parts of the world through European trade and colonization. ‘Adoration of the Magi.’ Artist Andrea Mantegna. The J. Paul Getty Museum The “Adoration of the Magi” by the Italian painter Andrea Mantegna from 1505 AD features three distinct magicians who, according to a contemporary tradition, came from Africa, the Middle East and Asia. They feature expensive porcelain, agate and brass objects that would be imported from China and the Persian and Ottoman empires. But Jesus’ fair skin and blue eyes suggest that he is not from the Middle East, but European. And the false Hebrew script embroidered on Mary’s fists and hem belies a complicated relationship with the Judaism of the Holy Family. In Mantegna’s Italy, anti-Semitic myths already prevailed among the majority of the Christian population, with Jews often segregated in their own neighborhoods in large cities. The artists tried to distance Jesus and his parents from their Judaism. Even seemingly small attributes, such as pierced ears – earrings were associated with Jewish women, their removal with a conversion to Christianity – could represent a transition towards the Christianity represented by Jesus. Much later, anti-Semitic forces in Europe, including the Nazis, would attempt to divorce Jesus completely from his Judaism in favor of an Aryan stereotype. White Jesus abroad As Europeans colonized increasingly distant lands, they brought a European Jesus with them. Jesuit missionaries established schools of painting that taught Christian art to new converts in the European style. A small altarpiece made at the school by Giovanni Niccolò, the Italian Jesuit who founded the “Painters’ Seminary” in Kumamoto, Japan, around 1590, combines a traditional Japanese golden and mother-of-pearl sanctuary with a painting of a distinctive white, Madonna and child European institutions. “The Mystical Engagement of Santa Rosa de Lima”, by Nicolas Correa. National Museum of Art In colonial Latin America – called “New Spain” by European settlers – the images of a white Jesus reinforced a caste system in which white Europeans and Christians occupied the first echelon, while those with darker skin due to the perception of mixing with native populations ranked considerably lower. The 1695 painting by artist Nicolas Correa from Santa Rosa de Lima, the first Catholic saint born in “New Spain”, shows his metaphorical marriage to a fair-skinned blond Christ. Legacies of similarity Scholars Edward J. Blum and Paul Harvey argue that, in the centuries after the European colonization of the Americas, the image of a white Christ associated him with the logic of the empire and could be used to justify the oppression of natives and African Americans . In a multiracial, but unequal America, there was a disproportionate representation of a white Jesus in the media. It was not just Warner Sallman’s Head of Christ that was widely portrayed; a large proportion of the actors who played Jesus on television and in the cinema were white with blue eyes. Historically, Jesus’ images have served many purposes, from the symbolic presentation of his power to the representation of his true likeness. But representation is important, and viewers need to understand the complicated story of the images of Christ that they consume. This article was republished from The Conversation, a non-profit news site dedicated to sharing ideas from academic experts. It was written by: Anna Swartwood House, University of South Carolina. Read more: What drives the appeal of “Passion of the Christ” and other films about the life of Jesus The case of Christ: what is the evidence of the resurrection? Panama celebrates its black Christ, part of the protest against colonialism and slavery Anna Swartwood House does not work to, consult, own shares or receive funding from any company or organization that would benefit from this article and has not disclosed any relevant affiliations other than your academic appointment.