Why is Jesus Almost Always Depicted as a Norman European?

[AnnaTheCat]

Almost every picture of Jesus - except for the Chinese, who are a notable exception - shows him as a Lombard Italian. Not even a proper Italian, but a Norman with tawny hair!

Now just how Jesus is shown is not remotely as important as his message, but this is a pretty silly tradition for people - especially non Italians - to incessantly and automatically carry on. Whatever Jesus Christ looked like it was probably closer to a modern day Syrian or Palestinian or ancient Babylonian than an Italian, Germanic or Anglo, or Spaniard. Assuming he resembled his mother and his ethnic background Lord Jesus would have had more in common (phenotypically) with Gilgamesh than Frederick II.

A lot of people think it’s silly/ahistorical when people depict Jesus as a black man, but depicting him as a blue-eyed, blonde haired man is hardly more likely.

 

[Tis_Bearself]

He’s not “almost always depicted” that way. If you go back and search the past threads, there are pictures of Jesus from all sorts of different ethnicities.

The people who worshiped Jesus tended to think of Him as looking like themselves. If you look at African art, you will find many depictions of Jesus as an African man. If you look at art created by someone in Northern Europe, He will look Northern European.

The BBC recently released a model of what they thought Jesus looked like that was based on what a typical Jewish man from his area would have looked like. A lot of people also think Jesus looked like the Mandylion (Veronica’s Veil image) or the Shroud of Turin, if they believe that is the authentic shroud of Christ. I don’t think the Shroud of Turin image looks particularly “Northern European”. To me, that image looks very Jewish.

One other thing to remember is that images for veneration are intended to be just that, images. They aren’t intended to be historic representations of “how Jesus really looked”. I constantly see pictures of Jesus and Mary wearing fashions from some era 1000 years later than when they walked the earth. I don’t take that to mean that Jesus and Mary actually dressed like that. Similarly, if I see them blonde and blue-eyed in an image painted by someone from Northern Europe, I don’t take that to mean they really looked like that historically. Now that Jesus and Mary are not constrained by earthly bodies, they can appear however they like, and Marian apparitions usually appear with her looking like the person to whom she is appearing. Juan Diego saw a Mestizo Mary at Guadalupe, while the Fatima children saw a Mary that looked Portuguese, and Adele Brise in Wisconsin saw a Mary with long blonde hair.

You are perfectly free to hunt around for Jesus images that appeal to you…no need to get all wound up about somebody else’s artistic choice in portraying Him.

 

[0Scarlett_nidiyilii]

(Please Note: This uploaded content is no longer available.)

One of my fave Madonna and Child pictures. Have you ever seen such a pink-cheeked New England farm girl?
(Of course, considering the artist is Tasha Tudor, well…)

 

[anna]

Look to the Shroud of Turin…No more doubts… God bless

 

[AnnaTheCat]

I constantly see pictures of Jesus and Mary wearing fashions from some era 1000 years later than when they walked the earth.

That’s a bit like the medieval art which depicts the ancient Romans or Alexandrian armies in plate armor. They wish they had plate armor!

And while there is some variety there’s really not much. Some pictures have Jesus with darker or lighter hair, but most of the time he basically looks like a light-haired, light-eyed man of southern European stock. This is true in Spanish, Byzantine, Filipino, American, German and English pictures. Literally just walk into a book store and I can tell you that 90% of them the art will have him as a southern European of improbable anscestry.