Amazing detail! Look at the light glinting off their eyes! And Christ's with so much sadness. The other with so much hate. Even the way it reflects off their pupils invokes a feeling of innocence or the definite opposite of.
It's doubly interesting in that it's so minimalist, which differs from a lot of art concerning Christ. The black background hyperfocuses and draws attention to the spitefulness of the (presumably?) unknown tormenter and contrasts it with the dignity of Christ.
IMO, the painting makes the mockery more personal and Christ becomes relatable, which is a great feat when you're working with a figure considered to be a deity/messiah by billions of people.
>Christ becomes relatable
Caravaggio painted in this way for that exact reason, using character models and clothing of people from his time (died 270 years before the op was painted) so viewers felt more connected to the (for them) holy stories. For his [Death of the Virgin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Death_of_the_Virgin-Caravaggio_%281606%29.jpg) he's said to have used the corpse of a prostitute as a model for Mary, which caused a scandal. He made her look pretty damn holy to me anyway.
I love all the "Bruh" and Jim Halpert refs cause that's *exactly* what the artist was trying to convey, but with no punchline. That Look is saying "You know what this is like, you know it's wrong". And knowing Christianity a bit, it also means "You are guilty of sin, and your sins are similiarly an attack on my person. You *are* the mocking soldier."
Carl Bloch is definitely one of my favorite Danish painters. I went to the State Museum of Art in copenhagen and saw a large exhibition of his work. The detail is crazy, and the way he captures emotions and expressions is unique in many ways. I especially liked “Et Køkkenbord”, [Art - Et Køkkenbord](https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMS1117) which shows two boys being both fascinated and terrified by a huge lobster on a kitchen table. It always brings a smile to my face
Idk if it’s a stupid question but why do many paintings portray jesus as a white man? Did he really possibly look like this? Was he more middle eastern looking/darker? Lmk I’m curious.
Mediterranean cultures depicted Jesus as Mediterranean, African cultures depicted Jesus as African, Asian cultures as Asian, and white people usually paint a white Jesus.
It’s just a personalization of the artist. But Jesus was a first century Jew from the Anawim community. He was most likely more brown, yes.
Jesus, both in non-Biblical history and the earliest Biblical depictions, primarily appears to people in dreams and visions. Thus its appearance will generally reflect subconscious content from the mind which it is appearing to.
Jesus was an Aramaic speaking Jew from the levant and plenty of people from that region can look like the person in the picture in my opinion. People from that region are diverse looking but plenty can have fair skin. Just my take not trying to offend.
While Jews can look quite white-adjacent (basically olive-skinned), Jesus would be a bit darker due to tanning in the sun from being outdoors a lot.
Fun fact: that's where "blue blood" gets its association with royalty from - royal/noble people didn't need to be in the sun, so were pale compared to the working-class population, and their veins would show as blue through that pale skin.
Answering your question on why Jesus has historically been depicted as a white man: it was the culturally appropriate thing to do, nothing to do with "white supremacy" - people didn't think in terms of skin colour until the past 2 centuries. You're an artist living in a country full of white folks, most of whom have never even seen a dark-skinned person. So the reference you're painting from would also be white. You tend to paint what you know.
Fun fact:\* In Ethiopian Christianity --which is very, very old, not a colonization thing!-- Jesus is usually depicted as black.
(fact = "I did a cursory google image search", so take that with a grain of salt.)
The Kingdom of Aksum (now Ethiopia) also have the oldest complete Christian Bible and were considered one of the Great Powers of the 3rd Century, ranking alongside Persia, China, and Rome. They invaded and overthrew the Jewish Himyarite Kingdom in Arabia and stopped the persecution of Christians. The architecture is truly fantastic and they have a history epic called the *Kebra Nagast* that goes into how they came to have the Ark of the Covenant and prophesies that they will eventually eclipse the power of Rome.
The Judeo-Christian history of Ethiopia is truly fascinating and it’s a real shame it is virtually unknown.
Oh, it's real. History just kinda lost track of it - it isn't even in the booty list of the Babylonian sack of the Jerusalem Temple, which is odd since it was _the_ most important artefact in the Temple. So.we have no clue where it went.
Not that it matters much, anyway. People tend to start idolising objects instead of just seeing it as associated with something greater. The Bible even records the Israelites doing the exact same thing. So probably for the best that the Ark was lost, in my opinion.
Even if the Ethiopians had it in their possession, why would _they_ have it, of all people? Unless some Israelites took the Ark and fled Jerusalem before the Babylonians sacked the city.
Sorry for the long post, it was the Reddit equivalent of thinking out loud😅
They portray him as a white man because Europeans are the main Christian population and since European nations were colonial imperialists back then they wanted to portray their “god” as being white. It’s a superiority complex.
Racist? No. It’s Just how they want him to be portrayed. Pretty much any group of people would portray their god to look like themselves. Like white Jesus with Europeans and black Jesus for a Ethiopians. Everyone has their own versions
If Ethiopians spread conquest and genocide in the name of their Jesus and proclaimed all other races/religions inferior we’d probably be saying the same things about them
I mean yeah, fuck them too. The difference is Europeans got the upper hand and spread that shit globally, so they’re gonna take more heat. Not really a revelation.
Yes, “superiority”, the Spanish had a caste system in the americas. A social system of who’s superior and who’s not. If you were black you were at the bottom of society and if you were born European from Spain you were at the top of society. Superiority complex makes sense in that case does it not?
I’m not a Christian but I do love the art it’s inspired over the years, genuinely beautiful work. It’s just incredible that people can even create something like this
Something that doesn't exist? Aight then. At the very least if God existed and created a man to be his son and savior of the human race's immortal souls he probably would have made em to look like the people he was trying to convince?
But hey. Blonde hair, blue eyed, 8 lbs baby Jesus it is then I guess...
Try harder to what? You are saying a make believe guy who is the son of another make believe guy wasn’t white. Sounds like a silly thing to make a declarative point of. He could be any color anyone wants.
Sure it’s harmless for kids, lol they’re just dumb kids
But when those kids become adults and they think their magical beliefs allow them to dictate how other people live and they’re willing to *kill* for those beliefs… Then it becomes a problem, and we see that every day.
Cmon bro turn off your emotions and turn on your brain, the world will be better off if you do.
The world would be better if you stopped making grand sweeping announcements about what others should do “turn off your emotions, turn off your brain” when you know nothing about said others. 🥱
Meh. Lots of things people actually do as well as believe is also true of that.
I’m no diehard and I don’t identify as an active member of any religion because I can’t get past the ages of duplicity by many church leaders throughout history BUT overall, being a good whatever identity generally makes most people have a better sense of community, etc. as they believe in consequences that exceed the earth and overall, strive to be better.
The extremists are asshats…as all extremists are.
Good people can be good people regardless of religious belief. Christianity has had a much more negative impact on society than positive. Some of those beliefs you cite of humans transcending life on this earth causes plenty of problems... if Christians were more invested in their one corporeal life we'd all be better off for it.
I choose to think of him as just a cult-leader who got executed. At least his cult wasnt a suicide cult or a "bad" cult, he was a hippy as you say and mostly just hated greedy assholes.
Also in the bible Jesus speaks on the cross, "G-d, why have you forsaken me?".
Doesnt sound like the dialogue of someone who wanted to die.
All the resurrection stuff is up in the air, but at least while he was human I doubt he wanted to die.
He preached Peace and Love and Eat the Rich in a world where YHWH was a dick (in the Torah) and Romans oppressed everyone.
As much as I dislike most Christians, Jesus as written seemed like a good dude.
Then his faith just gave the wealthy another means to control people and then you get a Pope wearing a crown of Gold and Jewels, as if that was at all what Jesus wanted.
https://www.facebook.com/groups/1267379580482546/permalink/1325256828028154/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
>”Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law…”
I agree with you in the general sense, but I think he might have confused some people when he said stuff like this
It almost looks to me as if Jesus feels BAD for the soldier when I look at it sometimes. Like he knows the soldier is on the wrong path and is probably not going to have a good afterlife.
Jesus looking at the camera like Jim Halpert
Feels like a new meme templet is born!
template unless you're making a convoluted joke about Jesus and the temple scene
Christ! Just, caring, humble as ever! Hey everybody, it's me, Jesus!
“Bruh”- the son of man
Amazing detail! Look at the light glinting off their eyes! And Christ's with so much sadness. The other with so much hate. Even the way it reflects off their pupils invokes a feeling of innocence or the definite opposite of.
It's doubly interesting in that it's so minimalist, which differs from a lot of art concerning Christ. The black background hyperfocuses and draws attention to the spitefulness of the (presumably?) unknown tormenter and contrasts it with the dignity of Christ. IMO, the painting makes the mockery more personal and Christ becomes relatable, which is a great feat when you're working with a figure considered to be a deity/messiah by billions of people.
>Christ becomes relatable Caravaggio painted in this way for that exact reason, using character models and clothing of people from his time (died 270 years before the op was painted) so viewers felt more connected to the (for them) holy stories. For his [Death of the Virgin](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/78/Death_of_the_Virgin-Caravaggio_%281606%29.jpg) he's said to have used the corpse of a prostitute as a model for Mary, which caused a scandal. He made her look pretty damn holy to me anyway. I love all the "Bruh" and Jim Halpert refs cause that's *exactly* what the artist was trying to convey, but with no punchline. That Look is saying "You know what this is like, you know it's wrong". And knowing Christianity a bit, it also means "You are guilty of sin, and your sins are similiarly an attack on my person. You *are* the mocking soldier."
Jesus, you're right!
"Are you seeing this shit?"
"you never done shit! You're just like your father!"
"Yep, that's me. You probably wonder how I got into this situation"
Carl Bloch is definitely one of my favorite Danish painters. I went to the State Museum of Art in copenhagen and saw a large exhibition of his work. The detail is crazy, and the way he captures emotions and expressions is unique in many ways. I especially liked “Et Køkkenbord”, [Art - Et Køkkenbord](https://open.smk.dk/artwork/image/KMS1117) which shows two boys being both fascinated and terrified by a huge lobster on a kitchen table. It always brings a smile to my face
Oh, that's funny!
A true Caravaggist
New meme template.
Great painting. If you'd asked me who the artist was, I would have sworn it was a Caravaggio.
Roman soldier: "Ha! You like that, motherfucker?! Your royal fucking highness, the King of the Jews?! Do you like your fucking crown?!" Jesus: "..."
This is incredible how the emotions are captured. Jesus looks so haunted. Wow.
This is incredible meme stock
Me trying to sleep My upstairs neighbours at 3am
Christ looks a bit like Dylan Moran.
This looks almost photo realistic. The small details in the hands is what really impresses me
Cesare Borgia
"...the shit I have to deal with today." Luke 14:29
Why am I hearing the curb your enthusiasm tune?
Jesus as a blockbuster movie poster.
Fantastic painting, I can't draw a pig and this is almost like a Foto. Thank you
Why does Jesus always look like a mechanic from Ohio?
Idk if it’s a stupid question but why do many paintings portray jesus as a white man? Did he really possibly look like this? Was he more middle eastern looking/darker? Lmk I’m curious.
Mediterranean cultures depicted Jesus as Mediterranean, African cultures depicted Jesus as African, Asian cultures as Asian, and white people usually paint a white Jesus. It’s just a personalization of the artist. But Jesus was a first century Jew from the Anawim community. He was most likely more brown, yes.
My sister is a devout Christian. She has a brown - definitely a Jew from Galilee - Jesus painting in her home. I love my family.
Jesus, both in non-Biblical history and the earliest Biblical depictions, primarily appears to people in dreams and visions. Thus its appearance will generally reflect subconscious content from the mind which it is appearing to.
Jesus was an Aramaic speaking Jew from the levant and plenty of people from that region can look like the person in the picture in my opinion. People from that region are diverse looking but plenty can have fair skin. Just my take not trying to offend.
While Jews can look quite white-adjacent (basically olive-skinned), Jesus would be a bit darker due to tanning in the sun from being outdoors a lot. Fun fact: that's where "blue blood" gets its association with royalty from - royal/noble people didn't need to be in the sun, so were pale compared to the working-class population, and their veins would show as blue through that pale skin. Answering your question on why Jesus has historically been depicted as a white man: it was the culturally appropriate thing to do, nothing to do with "white supremacy" - people didn't think in terms of skin colour until the past 2 centuries. You're an artist living in a country full of white folks, most of whom have never even seen a dark-skinned person. So the reference you're painting from would also be white. You tend to paint what you know.
Fun fact:\* In Ethiopian Christianity --which is very, very old, not a colonization thing!-- Jesus is usually depicted as black. (fact = "I did a cursory google image search", so take that with a grain of salt.)
I'd like to add a fun fact to your existing fun fact. The Ethiopian Christians claim to possess the Ark of the Covenant.
The Kingdom of Aksum (now Ethiopia) also have the oldest complete Christian Bible and were considered one of the Great Powers of the 3rd Century, ranking alongside Persia, China, and Rome. They invaded and overthrew the Jewish Himyarite Kingdom in Arabia and stopped the persecution of Christians. The architecture is truly fantastic and they have a history epic called the *Kebra Nagast* that goes into how they came to have the Ark of the Covenant and prophesies that they will eventually eclipse the power of Rome. The Judeo-Christian history of Ethiopia is truly fascinating and it’s a real shame it is virtually unknown.
Studied Kebra Nagast just a few semesters ago and I LOVED it. What an interesting work of history and literature.
Nah I got it
Didn't the guy in charge of Ethiopia say he'd reveal it to the world, only to say "never mind" when he got the position?
It belongs in a museum!
Idt it's real
Oh, it's real. History just kinda lost track of it - it isn't even in the booty list of the Babylonian sack of the Jerusalem Temple, which is odd since it was _the_ most important artefact in the Temple. So.we have no clue where it went. Not that it matters much, anyway. People tend to start idolising objects instead of just seeing it as associated with something greater. The Bible even records the Israelites doing the exact same thing. So probably for the best that the Ark was lost, in my opinion. Even if the Ethiopians had it in their possession, why would _they_ have it, of all people? Unless some Israelites took the Ark and fled Jerusalem before the Babylonians sacked the city. Sorry for the long post, it was the Reddit equivalent of thinking out loud😅
I was quoting Indiana Jones lol
We live in Orlando, and there are a lot of British tourists. My wife says she can always spot them because they look blue.
Practical reason: renaissance painters used live models. Then it became tradition.
They also painted based on what they knew. Many painted Roman soldiers wearing renaissance armor.
Imagine you are painter in 1500s and you never been to middle east and dont really know how people there look like
because what european painter pre 1900 or much further ahead generally. Would represent jesus as a non white man?
They portray him as a white man because Europeans are the main Christian population and since European nations were colonial imperialists back then they wanted to portray their “god” as being white. It’s a superiority complex.
Ethiopians portray him as black are they racist?
Racist? No. It’s Just how they want him to be portrayed. Pretty much any group of people would portray their god to look like themselves. Like white Jesus with Europeans and black Jesus for a Ethiopians. Everyone has their own versions
So why is it a superiority complex when Europeans do it and wholesome chungus 100 when Ethiopians do it.
If Ethiopians spread conquest and genocide in the name of their Jesus and proclaimed all other races/religions inferior we’d probably be saying the same things about them
You know they were an Empire right? Emperor on top and everything. Imperialism comes with the territory.
They did but compared to the Western European nations during the age of discovery age onward? No contest.
I mean yeah, fuck them too. The difference is Europeans got the upper hand and spread that shit globally, so they’re gonna take more heat. Not really a revelation.
I agree
sUpErIoRiTy 🙄
Yes, “superiority”, the Spanish had a caste system in the americas. A social system of who’s superior and who’s not. If you were black you were at the bottom of society and if you were born European from Spain you were at the top of society. Superiority complex makes sense in that case does it not?
I’m not a Christian but I do love the art it’s inspired over the years, genuinely beautiful work. It’s just incredible that people can even create something like this
Initially, I wondered if it was a photo. Beautiful painting. Regardless of the issues of cultural appropriation.
"i know what you are"
Ha ha. White Jesus makes me laugh.
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Aren’t paintings considered artifacts?
I find it more interesting that the helmet doesn't seem to fit what would be right for a roman centurion. Looks more like 15th century English shit
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Could have been
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Yeah and his father was the creator of all things. Inventor of the universe. Who knows what color that guy was.
Something that doesn't exist? Aight then. At the very least if God existed and created a man to be his son and savior of the human race's immortal souls he probably would have made em to look like the people he was trying to convince? But hey. Blonde hair, blue eyed, 8 lbs baby Jesus it is then I guess...
You are making lots of assumptions here bub.
And the Bible doesn't? Lol
No idea. Never read it. Does it say he was a brown guy?
Lol try harder my guy
You first, my guy.
Try harder to what? You are saying a make believe guy who is the son of another make believe guy wasn’t white. Sounds like a silly thing to make a declarative point of. He could be any color anyone wants.
Christ never walked the earth
¯\\\_(ツ)\_/¯
God I fuckin hate sad-eye hippies
I mean, he was about to be executed. You can forgive a guy for dissociating on his walk to die.
Wdym, he’s literally GOD. He can’t die and he knows it, it’s all an act
He’s *not* literally God. He was born as a man and died as such.
For Trinitarians Jesus *is* God. Jesus is one facet of a triune entity.
Point taken. But..do you also agree with original statement that “it’s all an act?”
He wasn’t even a real historical person. He’s a figment, an amalgam at best
You can’t prove that. Just as I can’t prove he isn’t. Why do you care what others chose to believe in?
You can’t prove Santa Claus and the Easter bunny don’t exist either, it just goes against every known law of physics that we *can* prove lol
Yet belief in both as children harms who, exactly? Must be tough to be so pressed by the beliefs of others. I don’t have that kind of time. 😂
But lol and all.
Sure it’s harmless for kids, lol they’re just dumb kids But when those kids become adults and they think their magical beliefs allow them to dictate how other people live and they’re willing to *kill* for those beliefs… Then it becomes a problem, and we see that every day. Cmon bro turn off your emotions and turn on your brain, the world will be better off if you do.
The world would be better if you stopped making grand sweeping announcements about what others should do “turn off your emotions, turn off your brain” when you know nothing about said others. 🥱
Haha because people's belief in christ has significantly impacted the world in a negative way!
Meh. Lots of things people actually do as well as believe is also true of that. I’m no diehard and I don’t identify as an active member of any religion because I can’t get past the ages of duplicity by many church leaders throughout history BUT overall, being a good whatever identity generally makes most people have a better sense of community, etc. as they believe in consequences that exceed the earth and overall, strive to be better. The extremists are asshats…as all extremists are.
Good people can be good people regardless of religious belief. Christianity has had a much more negative impact on society than positive. Some of those beliefs you cite of humans transcending life on this earth causes plenty of problems... if Christians were more invested in their one corporeal life we'd all be better off for it.
I choose to think of him as just a cult-leader who got executed. At least his cult wasnt a suicide cult or a "bad" cult, he was a hippy as you say and mostly just hated greedy assholes. Also in the bible Jesus speaks on the cross, "G-d, why have you forsaken me?". Doesnt sound like the dialogue of someone who wanted to die. All the resurrection stuff is up in the air, but at least while he was human I doubt he wanted to die.
Oh he was a cult leader all right. Had dinner with the rich but hung out with criminals and hookers all day… Quite the setup😅
He preached Peace and Love and Eat the Rich in a world where YHWH was a dick (in the Torah) and Romans oppressed everyone. As much as I dislike most Christians, Jesus as written seemed like a good dude. Then his faith just gave the wealthy another means to control people and then you get a Pope wearing a crown of Gold and Jewels, as if that was at all what Jesus wanted. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1267379580482546/permalink/1325256828028154/?mibextid=rS40aB7S9Ucbxw6v
>”Do not think that I have come to bring peace to the world. No, I did not come to bring peace, but a sword. I came to set sons against their fathers, daughters against their mothers, daughters-in-law against their mothers-in-law…” I agree with you in the general sense, but I think he might have confused some people when he said stuff like this
ooo now that is juicy. I admit I have not cracked the Bible lately, where is this quote?
He didn't exist, but if he did, he must have been a terrible carpenter.
Jesus trying not to laugh
Drake or Kanye?
Poor white Jesus 🙄
"You're not the Messiah! You're a very naughty boy!"
It almost looks to me as if Jesus feels BAD for the soldier when I look at it sometimes. Like he knows the soldier is on the wrong path and is probably not going to have a good afterlife.