From paintings to computer images of Christ
K.R.N. Swamy

TWO thousand years after the birth of Christ, BBC decided to find out as to how Jesus Christ looked like, for its 234 million pounds (Rs 1400-cr) project on Christianity, titled ‘The Son of God’. Although the physical appearance of the Master has been subject of many books/theses, BBC found that they were not of much use for a scientific presentation.

It is interesting to consider as to how the basic ‘likeness’ of Christ has been portrayed in countless pictures for the past 2000 years. Is the ‘Figure of Christ’, actually that of the Master, or that of any other human being, or one born of mere conjecture as to how Jesus must have looked like? It was found, that even in the second century AD, there had been widespread discussions as to whether the ‘likeness’ of Christ must be preserved or not?

Basing their objections on the biblical injunction on ‘not having the images’, some of the early Christians had tried to have all the representations of the Master destroyed, quoting the paraphrased Second Commandment "Thou shalt not make unto thee any likeness, nor bow to them." Further, nowhere in the Bible, either in the Old Testament or New Testament, is there any physical description of Christ. The church historian Eusebius of the fourth century AD states, "There was no picture of Him painted. The so-called pictures of Christ that are present today are from the imaginations of the artists."

But till the advent of the 19th century, no one had the courage to check up the history of the many ‘likeness’.

The earliest painting of Christ is one at St. Bartholomew’s Church at Genoa in Italy. As per local legends, this picture is said to have been painted by St. Luke, one of the Twelve Apostles, in response to a request by Christ himself. In AD 30, Agbarus, the King of Edessa in Asia Minor, hearing of the fame of the Master, wanted him to visit Edessa. But Christ was not able to accede to this request and asked St. Luke to paint and send to the monarch a picture. It is said to have wrought miracles. During the Genoaese invasion of Edessa, the painting was removed to Genoa and ever since, has been the most treasured relic in St. Bartholomew’s Church at Genoa.

But BBC’s research showed, that, despite the miracles attributed to the above paintings, the images of Christ we have today date, physically from the sixth century only and varied widely, depending on the piety of the painter. It is said that Leonardo da Vinci, the great 16th century Renaissance painter of Europe, was very much perturbed while painting his most famous work, ‘The Last Supper’, as to how to depict the face of Christ, for ‘he was unable to conceive the beauty of the celestial grace’.

Finally, led by its Controller, Ms Lorraine Heggessy, BBC decided to turn to computer technology for aid, namely to Identikit. This technology, mainly used to find criminals, is defined as "A set of images containing a wide variety of facial features, such as noses, hairlines, chins etc on transparencies, which can be overlaid in combinations, to build up a picture of a person — from the descriptions of eyewitnesses.

But, in order to ensure accuracy and scientific verification, BBC found that it had to use an outline of Jewish skulls dating from the first century AD (as the racial features vary), what the Twelve Apostles and biblical figures had stated about the appearance of the Master, by computer searching the whole of Bible viz: the Old Testament and New Testament, with key words, so that nobody can question the bonafides of the features incorporated in the Identikit of the Son of God.

The final picture they compiled and published in 2001 was quite different from the gentle patrician-like features of an ancient prophet with long hair and beard. It was the vigorous outlines of a bearded youth, for Jesus was only 33 years’ old, when he was crucified. Most striking are the piercing eyes of the computer-drawn Son of God!

According to Jean Claude Bragard of BBC, who was in charge of the "reconstruction" of the face of Jesus Christ, "It is the closest image of what this remarkable man may have looked like". Heggessey is also emphatic, "It is not the face of Jesus, but how he is likely to have looked..." MF

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