RoughRomanMemes

context : https://www.thevintagenews.com/2019/01/12/modern-image-of-jesus/

This very strange idea that one of the modern images of Jesus is based on Cesare originally comes from a claim made by the renowned novelist Alexandre Dumas and picked up and expanded upon by biblical theorists. The argument goes that Jesus was originally depicted as appearing non-European because he was Jewish, which did not sit well with the Borgia pope at the time. So in order to create a more “European-looking” Jesus Pope Alexander VI commissioned new paintings of Jesus using his illegitimate son Cesare as their model.

He then allegedly “ordered the destruction of all art depicting a Semitic Jesus,” thereby popularizing one of the main enduring images of Jesus we have today. So the theory goes.

There's evidence against this though

Another problem is that it ignores the evidence. Jesus began to appear as a figure with a beard and long hair in the 5th century, and his skin tones varied across this period, largely to reflect whichever culture had created the image.

But if you want to compare a painting of Cesare Borgia to a painting of Jesus Christ, look at the icon of Christ Pantocrator at St Catherine’s Monastery in Sinai.

Like Cesare, Christ Pantocrator has long brown hair, a brown beard, and a noble face with defined features, a strong jawline and cheekbones. It looks every inch like the “generic” depiction of Jesus doesn’t it?

Christ Pantocrator was painted on a wooden board in the 6th century, 800 years before Cesare was born.

Ye olde meme