They
saw that it was from a letter from the senator
Publius Lentulus, pro-consul in Judeia, to Tiberius
Cesar in Rome, that the renaissance painters based
on to paint the picture of Jesus. They saw that
this letter would be in the archives of the eternal
city, better yet, in the Vatican library until
this very day, but, conclusive proof of this document,
no one can give. This is lamentable, because this
letter constitutes a notable document of description
of the physical and phychological traces of Jesus,
done by an intelligent and observing politician.
Along history various versions of this document,
succinct, complete, all very consistent among
them, in a way that the validity and possible
real existence. The most interesting text came
inserted in an old book of medieval Portuguese
literature, in which the author states that he
copied it from the original in Latin, Vita Cristi.
This edition was written in a very archaic Portuguese,
which gives it a completely different flavor,
curious and rich in semantic value.
“Today
there lives in Judeia a man of singular virtue,
who is called Jesus Cristo; the barbarians have
him as a profet; his sectarians adore him as being
sent to us by the immortal gods. He raises the
dead and cares for the sick, with his words and
his touch; he is tall and well built; he semblant
is always placid and admirable; His hair is of
an almost indefinable color and fall in curls
until below the ears and fall upon his shoulders,
with much grace, parted in the middle as in the
Nazerene way”.
“His
forehead is smooth and wide and his cheeks are
tainted with an admirable rubor. The nose and
the mouth are formed in perfect symmetry; the
beard, dense and of a corresponding color to the
hair, extends one inch below his chin, forking
out”
His
eyes are brilliant and serene, and what surprises
one is, resplandecing in his like the rays of
the sun, but no one can fixedly look at his semblant,
because when it shines out it terrifies, and when
it calms, makes one cry; he makes one love him
and happily with profound respect. He has graceful
arms and hands”.
“He
admonishes with majesty and exhorts with tenderness;
When crying or talking, he always does with the
most profound elegance and gravity. He is of such
knowledge that the whole city of Jerusalem admires
him; he has never been to school and yet knows
so much. He walks barefoot and with nothing at
all on his head. Many people openly laugh at him
for this, but in his presence, talking with him,
one trembles and marvels. No one has ever heard
him laugh but has seen him cry many, many times.
He is sober, very modest and very caste. So, he
is a man, for his beauty and perfection, surpasses
the sons of other men”.
In
the medieval text, there are more explanations
defining colors and situations, for example, “his
hair was the color of ripe chestnuts, and falls
to his ears, smooth and orderly; and thrown back,
it was curly, covering and protecting his shoulders.
His forehead was smooth and very light colored,
his face being without wrinkles and marks, which
made his skin a lustrous rubor”.
By
the facts, it isn’t hard to conclude that
drawers and painters at the end if the middle-ages,
or in pleno renaissance, never had and difficulty
in drawing him, because in moderns terms we could
call this the first identikit picture in history,
of a truly universal personality. And eternal!
