Early Depictions of Short Haired Clean Shaven Christ

[StevusMagnus]

I'm wondering if anyone else has examples of early Christian art where Christ was depicted clean shaven and with short hair. I have heard this was the more common depiction of Him in the early centuries up until the 6th century.

Here is one example.



Jesus as the Good Shepherd, painting on ceiling of S. Callisto catacomb, early Christian art, mid 3rd century A.D.

[WhollyRoaminCatholic]

So Jesus did read TraditionInAction?

Huh.

[Credo]

I'm wondering if anyone else has examples of early Christian art where Christ was depicted clean shaven and with short hair. I have heard this was the more common depiction of Him in the early centuries up until the 6th century.

You're correct. The depiction of Christ as your describe changed because of the rediscovery of the Shroud of Turin. The late Dr. D. James Kennedy has used this as a proof of the Shroud's authenticity. Early Christians believed that the Shroud was so authentic that they were willing to alter their sacred art because of it. It's been ages since I've done any research into the Shroud of Turin, so I cannot comment. It's an interesting thesis nonetheless.

[didishroom]

Lol, that's funny.

Yes Jesus was depicted that way, because it was the Roman style. The figure is also wearing Roman style clothing.

Yet the Shroud of Tourin depicts Him with shoulder length hair.

[spasiisochrani]

Early Christian art portrayed Our Lord with short hair and no beard because that was the Greek fashion of the time.

[StevusMagnus]

12th Century England- beardless Christ

[Anastasia]

It's likely that the prevailing Roman (not Jewish) hairstyle of the time influenced these early mosaics; even the older men in Roman culture shaved and wore short hair. Also, many of the persecution-era depictions were disguised in order to not be destroyed if the authorities discovered them. There's a famous mosaic of this type showing Christ as the greek hero Orpheus.

[didishroom]

And yet He still has long 'girly' hair. It's hard to tell, as this is very 'figurative' but it looks like He has a gotee.

This is just one of a few exceptions. 99% of all depictions of Christ have Him with long hair and a beard. When He appeared to saints, they never disagreed with how He was portraye in art.

[SaintSebastian]

In the Last Judgment in the Sistine Chapel Christ is beardless, although his hair has a bit of length to it (but not too much):

[didishroom]

It also looks like He's on steroids.