A perfect portrait

Looking into his eyes, I wonder, “Is this the Jesus I know?”  The bust, from around the year 1500, is a classic medieval portrayal: the forked beard, the long, curly tresses.  And the slightly melancholic look.  It’s beautifully rendered.  But perhaps too perfect.

My visit to the Boston Museum of Fine Arts is short, and I have a specific purpose.  Since I’ve been memorizing the passage about Jesus in Colossians 1, I decided I’d look to see how artists had captured him over the eons.

Paul tells us, “The Son is the image of the invisible God.”  And one would expect such a man to be supremely attractive – to have an otherworldliness about him.  Or, as the artist in this rendering of the holy family resting on the way to Egypt imagined, a glow.  (If that were true, the baby Jesus would have been a right handy thing to have for night traveling!)

Many of the classic paintings of Jesus add a ring of light around him.  It’s an attempt to set him apart – to give him an aura of glory.  He deserves to be shown as special.

After all, Colossians goes on to tell us that “in him, all the fullness of God was pleased to dwell.”  In a sense, God rendered himself in human flesh.  Jesus on earth is God’s self-portrait.

In another room of the museum, there is a small work of art that brings me joy.  It’s an early Rembrandt – titled “Artist in His Studio.”  In it, Rembrandt (at around age 22) has made the painting on the easel the focal point.  It’s much larger than the artist and almost seems to extend out of the frame into our space.  And yet, we can’t see what’s on the canvas.

Perhaps he wanted to convey how monumental it was to create a rendering of real life out of pigments.  Because, as I know first-hand, capturing the essence of something real – particularly something as subtle as the face of a living person – is extremely hard. 

That’s why this Sargent sketch so amazes me.  Look at how simple the brushstrokes are!  And how dynamic the face is.  Yet we don’t know how well he captured the real Arab man he was painting.

This portrait of Jesus, made in 1481, supposedly followed the detailed description in a medieval document of what the human Christ looked like.  It begs the question: where did they get that description?  I think there’s a reason why we don’t have a clear visual of the Lord as he walked on this earth.

It’s not important.

Because God was rendering himself, not in perfect bone structure and luxurious hair.  He was revealing his character in his Son – his holiness, his mercy, his compassion, his wisdom, his willingness to do everything to reconcile all things to himself. (Col. 1:20)

When Philip in John 14 asks Jesus to show them the Father, Jesus basically says, “You’ve already seen him!”  Jesus says the Father is revealed in his words (vs. 10) and in his works (vs.11).

This is, ultimately, the portrait of the Father that we need.  And what an amazing God Jesus shows us!

Father, we often give you credit for the beauty of the world around us.  We praise you for your creativity and imagination.  Today we honor you for the perfect self-portrait you painted us in the words and works of Jesus.  How thankful we are to be able to see you through them!