Statues

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Friends,

I often see Roman Catholic statues of the Lord that tend to depict Him as a babe in His mother’s arms. It actually seems to be quite prevalent; about 80% of the statuesque depictions of our Lord that I’ve seen have been in this style. It seems awfully common!

Is there a reason that the adult Christ was never particularly well-represented relative to the vast number of Madonna & Child statues? Does the chubby little baby Jesus inspire more awe than the grand Redeemer? I find the latter is more glorious, but there we are. 🙂

Any particularly beautiful examples of the Lord or the Lord & His mother are welcomed. Beauty is an essential part of the Catholic religion!
 
I would say that the crucified Jesus is more prevalent because often churches will have 2 or more. There is usually a large one either hanging or mounted behind or above the alter, and the crucified Jesus that is carried up the isle ahead of the procession, and I would guess that many also have a small hanging crucifix in the sacristy.

To me, seeing the babe Jesus reminds me that he grew up in this world with his mother to take care of him. Of course he was more than human, but it reminds me that he was human in addition to being divine. There are probably other meanings to it, but this is how it speaks to me.
 
WeSeeLight said:
Friends,

I often see Roman Catholic statues of the Lord that tend to depict Him as a babe in His mother’s arms. It actually seems to be quite prevalent; about 80% of the statuesque depictions of our Lord that I’ve seen have been in this style. It seems awfully common!

Is there a reason that the adult Christ was never particularly well-represented relative to the vast number of Madonna & Child statues? Does the chubby little baby Jesus inspire more awe than the grand Redeemer? I find the latter is more glorious, but there we are. 🙂

Any particularly beautiful examples of the Lord or the Lord & His mother are welcomed. Beauty is an essential part of the Catholic religion!
Click to expand...
A lot of orthodox icons are the same way:thumbsup:
 
Theologically, the depiction of Mary holding child Jesus is to depict Mary’s role as Theotokos (the God bearer, Mother of God).
It is still the most important Christological and Mariological statement. Icons rarely depict the Theotokos without the child Jesus. All veneration and titles of Mary stemmed from this one, that Mary is the Theotokos.

But, of course, Jesus is not always a baby in her hand. Western depiction is more naturalistic, Jesus is usually a baby, although not a newborn. But older depiction of Jesus, like 2-5 year old of Jesus is not uncommon.

Eastern (especially Byzantine) icons always depict Jesus as Christ Emmanuel, a young but with wise/teacher like countenance (large almost balding forehead).
 
I find that statues of adult Jesus with his sacred heart are much more common where I am. Also Mary with her arms outstretched. St. Joseph also.
 
bzkoss236 said:
I would say that the crucified Jesus is more prevalent because often churches will have 2 or more. There is usually a large one either hanging or mounted behind or above the alter, and the crucified Jesus that is carried up the isle ahead of the procession, and I would guess that many also have a small hanging crucifix in the sacristy.

To me, seeing the babe Jesus reminds me that he grew up in this world with his mother to take care of him. Of course he was more than human, but it reminds me that he was human in addition to being divine. There are probably other meanings to it, but this is how it speaks to me.
Click to expand...
Seeing a representation of Jesus with his human mother represents the Incarnation, the most amazing fact in all of time and space. Remember, when we say the creed we bow at that point and at no other.
 
I would agree with previous poster that the Crucifix is the most prolific of the representations of Jesus in the Church. That being said I think that there is a startling similarity between Christ on the cross and as a infant, both represent Him as a loving, vulnerable gift of God to mankind.
 
In my area, I more often see statues of Mary solo as Our Lady of Grace (treading the serpent), and when I see Child Jesus, he’s with St. Joseph. Infant Jesus depictions generally tend to be solo, a la Infant of Prague, or in St. Anthony’s arms.

In 2-D art, I tend to see Adult Jesus more commonly than I do in statuary. But the purpose of a painting is similar to, but different from, the purpose of a statue. A painting will often evoke a particular scene or moment (“The Last Supper”, “Teaching Jesus”, “Let the Children Come”, “The Baptism”, “Praying in the Garden”, etc), but statues are more generally meant to call to mind a particular person or series of moments, if that makes sense.

In art, a Child Jesus is better for representing the humility and poverty that Christ chose to embrace upon his incarnation. Comparing a vulnerable infant or child to a full-fledged adult, it’s a lot easier to recognize humility and nothingness in one vs the other. (Obviously, an adult Jesus during the passion is a different kind of humility and poverty, but since that’s its own thing, when I think “adult Jesus”, I think of Jesus during his ministry.)

Likewise, in art, when a saint-- such as Mary or St. Anthony-- is depicted carrying a Christ child, it’s not necessarily just a sweet moment-- it might represent how they’re carrying (and spreading) The Word, in addition to other things—it’s easier to depict love of God when you’re holding a baby vs cuddling up to Adult Jesus, etc.

It’s important to remember that statuary is art, and art is rich with symbolism. Look beyond the characters and the pose, and figure out what else is being communicated with the imagery. Certain motifs lend themselves better to a statuary format than a painted format, and other things are better as paintings, and stained glass can go either way. So definitely take the medium, and its strengths and weaknesses, into account when you’re trying to figure out why x is so common as a statue, and y is so common as a painting. 👍
 
WeSeeLight said:
Friends,

I often see Roman Catholic statues of the Lord that tend to depict Him as a babe in His mother’s arms. It actually seems to be quite prevalent; about 80% of the statuesque depictions of our Lord that I’ve seen have been in this style. It seems awfully common!

Is there a reason that the adult Christ was never particularly well-represented relative to the vast number of Madonna & Child statues? Does the chubby little baby Jesus inspire more awe than the grand Redeemer? I find the latter is more glorious, but there we are. 🙂

Any particularly beautiful examples of the Lord or the Lord & His mother are welcomed. Beauty is an essential part of the Catholic religion!
Click to expand...
Perhaps another way to look at it is this: Christ, God Himself, came to earth in the incarnation of a frail human being, taking upon Himself our very physical weaknesses in His human nature. There is nothing so demonstrative of the fact that God humbled Himself on our behalf than the Eucharist, where like the baby presented by statues, icons, and images, we see Christ coming to humanity in a way that is utterly defenseless and vulnerable. In these statues, we see the direct link between Mary, who is the repose of Christ, and the Church, which is the repose of the Eucharist.

Is there greater glory and love than that Christ came for than to become defenseless and so take upon Himself the paschal sacrifice?
 
I, too, must say that I don’t know where you’re looking, but from what I see, the adult Jesus is the most prolific statue in Catholic churches, by far. I see a Mary and baby Jesus statue in maybe half the churches I go to. I see at least two crucifixes in each. Also, it is technically a requirement that each Catholic church (at least in the U.S.) contain the stations of the cross, which is another 14 depictions of an adult Jesus in each church.
 
I wouldn’t consider a crucifix a statue per se, although I have seen a few statues of the crucifixion 😃

In terms of statues, I’ve actually seen a lot of Sacred Heart statues, surprisingly. But in the church where I grew up, they had a breath-taking pieta statue, very much like Michelangelo’s. It was at once beautiful and gut-wrenching. I think maybe adults relate to it better than children. In my experience, small children like “Baby Jesus” 🙂 Both the pieta and the madonna and child, however, manage to inspire a devotion to Jesus and Mary in one glance --a better investment if space is limited, I think 😃
 
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