What did Jesus look like?

Question

I'm not an expert in the Bible, but as far as I can tell, nowhere does it say what Jesus looked like. However, most artists who paint Jesus's portrait show him with long hair and a beard and moustache. Is it artistic license, or do they know something we don't? Just wondering. Thanx.

Answer 1

He lived in ancient times in the Middle East.So,he more than likely did not shave much or run to the nearest Best Cuts regularly for a trim.Beard,long hair,etc?Most likely.
He was also more than likely dark featured with brown eyes and hair,and olive skin.

Answer 2

He looked Jewish! Jewish laws at the time forbid any likeness so there is no recording. There is one Egyptian painting of Jews many years BC that show the men with Black short curly hair, and trimmed short beards. The Egyptians in the painting had brick colored skin, and the Jews were pasty pale. But then, how can we trust just a painting. I have painted Jesus three times. Twice I just showed the back of his head. Once I took photos of about six different men, and used parts of each. The guy who posed for the eyes was disappointed when I only used his chin! The man who did the hands, recognized that in the finished work I also used his eyebrow.

Answer 3

Some skeptics doubt that he existed at all. If he did, he'd be a Jew with dark coloring. One needs to do much research if he wants to paint Jesus authentically. Many artists have just painted what is convenient. We see King Arthur in armor of the 15th Century in paintings, while he is said to have lived in the 6th cenury, for example. Jesus wouldn't have resembled most paintings one sees, for the same is true of him and King Arthur.

Answer 4

No one knows what Christ looked like but it was important for the Christian church that the faithful who attended churches in antiquity could recognise Jesus, the saints, martyrs and angels etc from pictorial iconography. In antiquity many common folk could not read and write and thus biblical allegorical pictures (images that told a story) were ideal. Jesus has always been portrayed with a likeness that many will recognise. Early images of Christ were very like images of Alexander the Great and during Renaissance times and even now, he is shown to be very much like Cesare Borgia.

Answer 5

He probably looked like a modern day Sephardic Jew or Arab. He would very likely have had a beard as it was customary for Jewish men of that time to grow their beards out. I think his hair was clipped short because it was considered feminine for a man to have long hair in those times.

Answer 6

The way Jesus is always portrayed corresponds to a caucasian light brown hair and eyes. Jesus was born in the Middle East. I think he should look like any normal palestinian nowadays....

Answer 7

no one knows exactly what jesus looked like but someone painted him long ago and now everyone else uses the same likeness. no one knows cause no one has ever seen him so a picture is what one wants to paint without knowing. my mother was a painter and when i asked her why she painted pictures of jesus the way she did she said "that is the way i percieve him to be"

Answer 8

Dark hair..Brown eyes..Olive skin...
Remeber Jesus was born in a part of the world where everyone is of a darker complexion.

Hope this helps..

Acerone.

Answer 9

I doubt that Jesus even existed, but that is another story. Most people believe that this is what he looked like, and I have seen no artwork showing him any different than this.

Answer 10

The bible gives one description in Revelations1:14-15

His head and [his] hairs [were] white like wool, as white as snow; and his eyes [were] as a flame of fire;

And his feet like unto fine brass, as if they burned in a furnace; and his voice as the sound of many waters.