Why are Mary,Joseph, & Jesus almost always depicted as very light skinned?

Question

It's a fact that they were medium to dark skinned Caucasian people,not light skinned.Also,why aren't they depicted as wearing more Earth tone colors,such as tan,biege,or orange,since these are the most common colors of the Middle East,even the sunset over there,since that's where they're from originally.

Most people from that part of the world are medium to dark skinned,with dark hair & eyes.Some are Caucasian,some aren't.

Answer 1

A serious answer: because much of the art you speak of was produced by caucasians. If you investigate ancient art of the Coptic church, you will find a different story.

Mary, Joseph and Jesus were not caucasian, but semitic, specifically Jewish. Modern Jewish people come in all shades from pale to dark. But most likely the people of Jesus' time were darker than depicted in Middle-Aged art by European people.

Clothing colors were selected for their symbolic meaning, not for historical accuracy.

Answer 2

Well, I guess you are referring to works of Western artists from the middle ages up to to say a couple of centuries ago. If we take Renaissance artists for example, I think they painted white-skinned people for a number of reasons. One is the fact that travel was not really that easy at that time, so what they're really familiar with, and what they know, is white-skinned Europeans; they probably had no idea how Middle Easterners looked like. Another reason might've been that they wanted to relate to the audience targeted with these works of art, who are again white-skinned Europeans. (I have seen depictions of a black Jesus that originated guess from where, right, Africa!)

The clothes thing is also related to the above and the general mentality of the audience. These figures depicted were considered to have the highest social/political/religious value. So, I guess they didn't want to represent them in earth-tone rags, while the patrons and people who would own the works of arts would be wearing silks, velvets, jewels, etc. The religious figures almost had to compete, and wear decent clothes of the era in which they were depicted.

Hope this helps!

Answer 3

During the Italian Renaissance it was common for artists to depict biblical figures as being dressed and looking like the artist's contemporaries or people who lived during the artist's time period. One of the reasons the artists did this was they felt it would create a connection between the viewing public and the subject matter. In other words people would feel they had more in common with the biblical characters.
I gave you two links if you are interested. The first is information on the depiction of Jesus throughout the history of art. This info probably would apply to Mary and Joseph as well.
the second link is pretty interesting. Its a depiction of Jesus done by forensic anthropologists and computer programmers. Hope this helps a little

Answer 4

Might as well why Jesus and Joseph are typically depicted as looking like they have the physiques of accountants and not muscular carpenters. Remember, back then people didn't have power tools. Carpenters would have been big, strong, muscular and everyone thought Jesus was the son of Joseph, a carpenter, so then he must have had that kind of physique. Oh, sure, he'd fast and pray, but he wouldn't have had these little sissy hands, he would have had calluses and looking like a working man.

But it depends on the culture creating the art. I've seen Mexican works of art where Mary and Jesus are dark-skinned and dark-haired.

Answer 5

To get this answer, you have to think of who did those paintings, and what influenced them. None of those painters ever saw Joseph, Mary, and Jesus alive, in the flesh. There were no portraits of the trio done from life. And as far as I know, there are no descriptions of them in the Bible. So that leaves a lot to the imagination.

These paintings are mostly religious, specifically the Christian religion. The Christian religion, up until fairly modern times, was predominently a European religion. Not many Chinese, Indian, Mexican, Persian, or African artists painted the trio before the year 1500.

So the artists who made these paintings before 1500 were mostly Christian, mostly European, and always using their imagination as to what the trio looked like.

And there's your answer. European painters thought God looked European, so they painted accordingly. And that idea feeds on itself. If European missionaries spread the Gospel to Japan, Africa, India, and the Mississippi River Valley, they carry with them the Eurocentric vision of the Holy Family.

Depicting a Black Madonna, or a Holy Family in the Mexican, Filipino, or Chinese art tradition represents a break with the Christian artistic tradition. It happens, but not often.

Bottom line ... people who paint want God to look like themselves.

Answer 6

They are shown like that in our culture and if you look to other cultures they look like them , look to africa or middle east. Since europeans are mostly white that is how they depict the Holy Family.
The second thing is the styles of the artistic period they were painted in. When you look at the dark ages and their flat faces and the frontal position of figures to Rubens and the fat porcelain white skin tones to Albrecht Dureer in c.1500 and his self portrait as Jesus..To modern painters doing everything like that guy couple of yeears back painted the Madonna and added alephant dung and pictures of vaginas to the background.
Third the look of the Holy Family is not described in any writings so people interpret how they want it too. We know they were middle eastern Jews, but they lived in the Roman Empire where people from all kinds of ethnic background lived. Also we have Jews from ethiopia who are black and european Jews who are white.
I think that the way that Jesus and the people around him looked should not detract us from his teachings and what he achieved. He thought us to love each other even our enemies and to spread the love of God to other people through no violence but by example and self sacrifice no difference what the people look like and where they are from.
I hope it helps.
good luck

Answer 7

To prove to the world that being white is the best. Jesus was a Jew, he wasn't fair-skinned. He had black hair, and tanned skin instead.

Answer 8

The reason is because when painters think of the average caucasian man/woman they think of white skinned.Even though we know better the painters just paint of what's in their mind.

Answer 9

They're aren't always shown that way, broaden your horizons

Answer 10

The catholic church did it because they wanted their God to look like them.