This document is available to everyone and anyone for classroom use
and/or study. You may modify it in any way you wish and you need not
credit Seton Hall.
If you have a lesson plan of your own, on one of the three major
monotheistic religions or especially in their interactions, please consider
submitting it to us at bennetjb@shu.edu.
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?