another figure of Jesus is also mentioned (Nicephorns, ut supr.; this credulous historian names the evangelist Luke as the painter successively of Jesus, Mary, and several apostles), and a certain Publius Lentulu:^, a Ro- man officer (according to one iNIS. a proconsul) is report- ed to have composed a description of Christ's personal appearance, which (with great variation of the text) is still exhibited as extant (comp. Fabricii Cod. apocr. N. Test, i, 301 sq. ; Pseudolentuli, Joa. Bamasc. et Niceph. [^Hist, Eccles. i, 40] prosopograph. J. C, edit. Carpzov, Helmst. 1774). This last, according to the text of Gab- ler (in Latin), reads as follows: "A man of tall stature, good appearance, and a venerable countenance, such as to inspire beholders both with love and awe. His hair, worn in a circular form and curled, rather dark and shin- ing, flowing over the shoulders, and parted in the mid- dle of the head, after the style of the Nazarenes. His forehead, smooth and perfectly serene, with a face free from wrinkle or spot, and beautified with a moderate ruddiness, and a faultless nose and mouth. His beard full, of an auburn color like his hair, not long, but part- ed. His eyes quick and clear. His aspect terrible in rebuke, placid and amiable in admonition, cheerful with- out losing its gravity : a person never seen to laugh, but often to weep," etc. (compare Niceph. i, 40). (See Vol- beding, p. G.) The description given by Ejjiphanius (Monack. p. 29, ed. Dressel) has lately been discovered by Tischendorf {Cod. Ven. cl. i, cod. 3, No. 12,000) in a somewhat different and perhaps more original form (in Greek), as follows : " But my Christ and God was ex- ceedingly beautifid in countenance. His stature was fidly developed, his height being six feet._ He had au- burn hair, quite abundant, and flowing down mostly over his whole person. His eyebrows were black, and not highly arched; his ej^es brown, and bright. He had a familj' likeness, in his fine eyes, prominent nose, and good color, to his ancestor David, who is said to have had beautifid eyes and a ruddy complexion. He wore his hair long, for a razor never touched it; nor was it cut by any person, except by his mother in his childhood. His neck inclined forward a little, so that the posture of his body was not too upright or stiff. His face was fuU, but not quite so round as his mother's ; tinged with suflicient color to make it handsome and natural ; mild in expression, like the blandness in the above description of his mother, whose features his own strongly resembled." This production bears evident marks of being a later fabrication (see Gabler, 2 Progr, in authentiam epist. Lentuli, etc., Jen. 1819, 1822; also in his Opusc. ii, G38 sq.). There is still another notice of a similar kind (see the Jen. Lit.-Zeit. 1821, sheet 40), and also an account of the figure of Jesus, wliich the emperor Alexander Severus is said to have had in his lararium. or household shrine (see Zeibich in tlie A'oy. Miscell. Lips, iii, 42 sq.). See Christ, Imagics of.
From the New Test, the following particulars only may be gathered: Jesus was free from bodily defects (for so much is implied in the type of an inibleraished victim under the law, and otherwise the people would not have recognised in him a prophet, while the Phari- sees woidd have been sure to throw any physical defor- mity in his teeth), but his exterior could have presented nothing remarkable, since ^lary Magdalene mistook liim for the gardener (John xx, 15), and the t^vo disciples on the way to Emmaus (Luke xxiv, IG), as well as the apostles at his last appearance bj' the Sea of Gennesareth (John xxi, 4 sq.), did not at first recognise him ; but his form then probably bore many permanent marks of his severe sufferings. The whole evangelical narrative in- dicates sound and vigorous bodily healtli. In look and voice he must have had something wonderful (John xviii, G), but at the same time engaging and benevolent: his outward air was the expression of the high, noble, and free spirit dwelling within him. The assertions of the Church fatlicrs (Clem. Alex. Pwdag. iii, 92; Strom. vi, 93 ; Origcn. ( 'i/s. vi, 327, ed. Spenc.) that Christ had an unprepossessing appearance ai'e of no authority, being
JESUS CHRIST
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JESUS CHRIST
evidently conformed to Isa. liii (but see Piiartii Assertio lie simjulari J. Ch. jndchritudhif, Par. 1651; see gener- ally, ill addition to the above authorities, F.Vavassor, De forma Christi, Paris, 1649; on the portraits of Jesus, Keiske, De ima;/inibus Christi, Jena, 1685; Jal)lonskj', Oyn(sc edit. Te Water, iii, 377; Junker, Ueber Christus- kopfe, in IVIeusel's Misccll. artist. Ink. pt. 25, p. 28 sq. ; Amnion, L'cb. Christiiskupfe, in his Ma(/azin.f. christi. J'ri'd. I, ii, 315 sq. ; Thohick, Literar. Anzei;/. 1834, No. 71 ; Cirimm, Die Sage uiid Ursprunr/ der Christtisbilder, Eerl. 1843 ; Mrs. Jameson, IJist. of our Lord exemplified in Works of Art [Loud. 1865J). (vSee further in Vol- beding, p. 19 ; Hase, p. 65 ; Meth. Quart. Eev. Oct. 1862, p. 679.)