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!
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