Jesus as Depicted in Art - Seton Hall University
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Jesus as Depicted in Art
The major subject of Christian art over the past two thousand years has been Jesus (Christ). The Gospels do not provide a description of Jesus and no painting from life survives. Thus, artists have depicted Jesus in very different ways.
Christ and St. Mina, 6th Century, Egypt.
What elements of this scene show that Jesus and St. Mina are holy?
What is it about this image that shows Jesus as warm and human?
Is there an anachronism that you can identify here?
This painting is by Marc Chagall, a French-Jewish artist.
How does this painting differ from depictions of Jesus by Christian artists?
Why might Chagall have depicted Jesus with tefillin? (tefillin = the leather straps around his arms)
This image is from Medieval Crete. Crete was a Greek-speaking island, but it was controlled by Venice at the time of this icon’s creation.
How is this depiction of infant Jesus not realistic?
What does the depiction of infant Jesus as an adult tell you about how people of the Medieval era viewed infancy and childhood?
This version of the Last Judgment was done by Hans Memling, a Dutch-German artist, from 1461-1471.
How is this depiction of Jesus different from the Egyptian depiction of Jesus?
This is Michelangelo’s Last Judgment, painted from 1535 to 1541.
How is Michelangelo’s depiction of Jesus different from all other depictions of Jesus we have seen?
An Eighteenth Century Depiction of Jesus from Ethiopia.
See below for questions
A 20th century depiction of Jesus by a black American Christian artist.
Think of this painting and the one by the Ethiopian artist, why might artists depict Jesus as a member of their own ethnic group? What message might they be trying to convey?
Is this any less realistic than depicting Jesus as a northern European?
Concluding Question:
What generalizations can you make about how Jesus is depicted? How important is the author’s own identity in how he or she depicts Jesus?
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