The Face of Jesus

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Italian art historian, Flavio Caroli’s book. Photo: Martin Gani. The Dominican church, Santa Maria Novella in Florence, houses the remarkable Trinity fresco painted by Masaccio around 1427. A long-haired, bearded, bleeding Jesus nailed to the cross with his head tilted to one side seems to incarnate a real person. Above him is God the Father, below Jesus stands the Madonna on one side looking like an ordinary Florentine lady and a just as ordinary-looking St John on the other side. Between the Father and Jesus, a dove – symbolising the Holy Spirit – is frozen in flight. Perspective lines extend beyond the wall giving the illusion of a three-dimensional scene. Masaccio was the first to use full perspective. His Trinity marked the beginning of modern art and Jesus the protagonist had never before been depicted more realistically. But how did artists before and after Masaccio portray Jesus, the Son of God? The question was addressed by the Italian art historian, Flavio Caroli, who this year published a book on the subject. The first ever pictorial representation of Jesus was a drawing discovered in a catacomb in Rome dating from the 2nd century. It traced the outlines of a person on a cross with the head of a mule and was obviously done by a pagan Roman artist who intended to denigrate the image of Jesus, the leader of a new religion – Christianity. Crucifixion was inflicted on common criminals and the choice of a mule was not arbitrary either; in Jewish folklore of the time, the mule or donkey was believed to lead to a source of water in the desert. 6th century symbol of Christ, Ravenna. Photo: Martin Gani. The first, human-like image of Jesus was again discovered underground, in a corner of the Commodilla catacombs in Rome and dated to the 4th century. It had the semblance of an olive-skinned individual with long, wavy dark hair and a beard. The first appearance of these more respectable images of Jesus in the 4th century is no coincidence, because by the 3rd century Christianity had spread to virtually all strata of Roman society. In 305 the Emperor Diocletian for the last time violently persecuted the followers of this new religion on discovering that even some officials in his army had embraced it. In 313 the Emperor Constantine officially put an end to Christian persecution and allowed his subjects to worship their God as they desired. Putting a face to Jesus, the Messiah, as the incarnation of God raised not a few ethical, theological and philosophical issues which plagued Christianity for most of the first millennium. Until the apperance of the Commodilla portrait, symbols such as the Greek letters XP, Chi-Rho, meant Christ. The Greek word for fish, ichthys, was an acronym for: Iesus Christos Theou Yios Soter (Jesus Christ Son of God the Saviour). So the word itself or an image of a fish in a religious context stood for Jesus. Another common symbol was the expression: ‘Good Shepherd’ coined by John the Baptist. Christians knew it referred to Jesus as did images and sculptures of a shepherd tending sheep and often depicted in sacred art. In 451 the Council of Chalcedon addressed the claim that Jesus had only one nature, and it was divine and not human. The Council asserted the full humanity and full divinity of Jesus, whose human nature was just like us save for original sin. It therefore permitted artists to depict the second person of the Trinity in human form. With the demise of Rome as the capital of Christianity in 476, the city of Ravenna took centre stage for religious and administrative matters in the Roman Empire of the West between the 5th and mid-8th centuries. The basilicas of San Vitale and Sant’Apollinare Nuovo in Ravenna, house Byzantine-style mosaics which date to the early decades of AD500 and which portray a beardless, youthful Jesus; there are no crucifixions or suffering in view. In 692 the Council of Quinisext was held in Constantinople under Justinian II and passed 102 canons including official guidelines on how Jesus, the Virgin Mary and the saints should be painted. Only icons were to be allowed, and human-like forms were outlawed. The Catholic Church in the West disagreed, insisting on a more realistic figure underlining the human aspect of Jesus, the Redeemer. The controversial approach led to what is known as the Iconoclastic war. Jesus Omnipotent from a 6th century mosaic, Ravenna. Photo: Martin Gani. In 726 Emperor Leo III based in Constantinople ordered the destruction of all images of Christ, the Madonna and Saints. Disobedience was severely punished despite the opposition by Pope Gregory II. Only at the margins of the Empire, in places like Ravenna, did original sacred artwork predating 726 survive. The tradition of portraying Jesus returned in 843 under the reign of Empress Theodora. In the 11th century there was a doctrinal schism between Orthodox Church based in Constantinople and Roman Catholics based in Rome. A new way to paint Jesus had already started in the West, whereby Jesus was depicted as both man and Son of God. The emphasis was on the narration of his life and deeds in a natural setting. In the East, Jesus was represented as a frontal, static image. Artists had to emphasize His divine, revelatory nature. Early examples of these Orthodox Christian representations can be seen in the small church of the Dormition of Daphne in Athens dating from 1020 where the Son of God is painted as Jesus Christ the Pantocrator (omnipotent); in Istanbul similar scenes were depicted at the turn of 14th century and adorn the Church of Saviour, as well as 12th century mosaics in Aya Sofia. Those entering Cologne Cathedral in Germany today witness a touching crucifixion scene, Jesus on a golden background is looking down, he is in great pain. It was painted between 969 and 976 making it one of the earliest crucifixions in art. Up to then Christ was depicted as a healer, master or omnipotent redeemer. By the turn of the first millennium Jesus on the cross symbolising more his resurrection than his death was becoming a common sight in churches especially in the West. During the second half of the 13th century Tuscan artist Cimabue painted his Crucifixion, for the Florentine church of Santa Croce adding another chapter to the history of art. The sinuous, suffering body of Christ still stirs sympathy today, the Son of God is looking more and more human. The next artist to render Jesus more human-like was Giotto during the early 1300s. One of the founding fathers of the Renaissance, Giotto introduced drama to art. His frescoes in the Scrovegni chapel in Padova narrates the life and death of Jesus in a natural setting, in which we see the beginnings of perspective in art. Then came Masaccio’s Trinity in Santa Maria Novella. With the Renaissance in full bloom, realism became the focus of painting and sculpting. The Resurrection of Jesus by Piero della Francesca shows us a face of Jesus displaying a mixture of tranquillity and indignation. Those around him are in disbelief as he seems to be there to offer reassurance and protection. A decade or so later in the 1470s, the Death of Christ by Andrea Mantegna returns to the theme of pain when we see a rare example of severe foreshortening as if compressing the body of Jesus, it depicts unimaginable suffering. Leonardo’s masterpiece, The Last Supper, renders Jesus a mystical character. He’s just uttered, “One of you will betray me,” sparking heated debate among his 12 disciples, yet he’s serenely looking to one side totally isolated from the goings-on around him. The 16th century was dominated by the likes of Raphael, Titian and Michelangelo. In Raphael’s masterpiece, Transfiguration, Jesus is both divine and human; he’s at the top surrounded by light, to his left and right are the prophets Elijah and Moses just below him are the apostles Peter, John and James. At the bottom we see earthly life. Titian painted the Pietà (pity) and Michelangelo sculpted it, whereby the dead body of Jesus rests in the arms of the Madonna, symbolising transition from life on Earth. During the 17th century worthy artists such as Guido Reni in Italy and Diego Velazquez in Spain continued the tradition of portraying a suffering, human Jesus. Many Impressionist artists towards the end of 1800s like Picasso, Chagall and Paul Gauguin painted Jesus with uncertain, hazy outlines, but their works are no less powerful. Matisse decorating the Chapelle du Rosaire in Vence, southern France, around 1950, depicted the Madonna and Jesus as line drawings, not much different in style from the first image of Jesus outlined by the pagan Roman 1,800 years earlier. Perhaps the most significant symbolic return to the beginning took place in Turin at the outset of 2007 when the city’s latest church, Santo Volto (Holy Face) was built. It takes its name from the mosaic behind the altar, a replica of the face on the mysterious holy shroud, still kept in the cathedral of Turin, believed to have been used to wrap the body of Jesus Christ when he was taken down from the cross.

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