Artist is Rembrandt Harmenszoon Van Rijn 1606-1669, Netherlands. Rembrandt wanted to paint a portrait of Jesus that was more authentic. He didn't think it was appropriate to portray Jesus with blonde hair and blue eyes, and he was probably right about that. Rembrandt found a young Jewish man that he thought would be very typical for the Middle East region of Israel, and used him as a model for a series of images of the head of Christ. Rembrandt's choice did have some influence on how Christ was portrayed from then on. However... even though Rembrandt created paintings that are technically accurate, I'm not convinced he captured the spiritual essence of Jesus in his paintings. When compared with the paintings of Carl Bloch, for example; Rembrandt's Jesus has a bland expression, which is almost vague and is lacking in personality. Whereas Carl Bloch's Jesus is intense, with piercing eyes and a definite air of authority. In Rembrandt's paintings I only see a Jewish man. In Carl Bloch's paintings I see more.
Images for Jesus
