For centuries, Western art has portrayed Jesus as a white, blue-eyed European, but historians say this image isn’t historically accurate. Jesus was a first-century Jewish man from the Middle East, likely with olive skin, dark eyes, and short black hair, not the long, fair features popularized by Renaissance paintings.
Using AI and historical references, Dutch artist Bas Uterwijk created a more culturally accurate image based on ancient Judean features, Byzantine art, and forensic research. Scholars like Joan Taylor and forensic expert Richard Neave support this view, noting that Jesus lived a humble, nomadic life and would have dressed simply.
These reconstructions aren’t exact portraits, but they offer a more realistic, historically grounded vision of what Jesus may have looked like—challenging centuries of artistic tradition.
