Who Decided What Jesus Looked Like?

[Clark Addison]

Do we have any Art Historians on the board?

For the last several hundred years, the vast majority of depictions of Jesus in art follow a pattern: good looking white guy with a beard and kind eyes. They don't look the same, but they are generally instantly identifiable as Jesus, whether they look like this:

or this:

or this:


In the first couple of centuries AD; however, Jesus had not yet been standardized. At that time, depictions of Jesus seem very different, both from each other and from today's standard. Here are three examples:





Does anyone know how this happened? Was it just a gradual progression? Or was there one artist whose vision of Jesus became the standard that all others followed?

[BigFatMeanie]

Does anyone know how this happened? Was it just a gradual progression? Or was there one artist whose vision of Jesus became the standard that all others followed?

He underwent Roman Catholic correlation.

[filsdepac]

I heard there was a lady traveling to the council of nicea when her chariot crashed. She was aided by a mysterious man who saved her from falling off a cliff. When she arrived, somewhat late to the council, they were just deciding on what Jesus looked like. A picture was unveiled and it was the man that had just saved her life.

[SoCalCoug]

Wikipedia actually has an entry on this.

[ame="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Depiction_of_Jesus"]Depiction of Jesus - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia@@AMEPARAM@@/wiki/File:Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg" class="image"><img alt="" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/4/4a/Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg/215px-Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg"@@AMEPARAM@@commons/thumb/4/4a/Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg/215px-Spas_vsederzhitel_sinay.jpg[/ame]

[STLcoug]

Jesus is black in most areas of St. Louis.

[Jacob]

He underwent Roman Catholic correlation.

If it weren't for Hadrian, he may have never had a beard.

[wuapinmon]

I heard there was a lady traveling to the council of nicea when her chariot crashed. She was aided by a mysterious man who saved her from falling off a cliff. When she arrived, somewhat late to the council, they were just deciding on what Jesus looked like. A picture was unveiled and it was the man that had just saved her life.

Folks, this is high-quality stuff.

[SoCalCoug]

Jesus is black in most areas of St. Louis.

I know a Jesus. He's Mexican. There's lots of Mexican Jesus' in So Cal.

[BigFatMeanie]

I know a Jesus. He's Mexican. There's lots of Mexican Jesus' in So Cal.

There are plenty of Immaculate Conceptions and John the Baptists too.

[grapevine]

some young girl whose parents died in a crash and she told Del Parson. Haven't you all heard that story.