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Alex Kollar

Dr. Hill

9 November 2016

COMM CRIT

ABSTRACT

Artistic representations of Jesus Christ have generated controversy for centuries.

These representations have triggered numerous debates over Christs ethnicity and facial

features. Counter to the dominant trend of representing Jesus as a European-featured

man, Rembrandt Van Rijns Head of Christ emphasizes Christs Jewishness. In this essay,

I consider Rembrandts work for the particular ideological commitments that his

representation of Christ reveals. This paper argues that ideological criticism reveals

Rembrandts controversial portrayal of a Jewish Jesus in the Head of Christ to be more

than an artists moment of radical creativity, but acts as a powerful shift towards resisting

the hegemonic ideology of a European-featured Christ.

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I. INTRODUCTION:
a. Christs ethnicity has been the topic of heated debates for centuries, and is
still being disputed within the church, art community, and political circles
around the world.
b. In 1656, Rembrandt van Rijn created a series of paintings that present a
more realistic vision of what, he believed, Jesus could have actually
looked like.
c. To understand the rhetorical elements of the Head of Christ, I will first
offer the use of ideological criticism as a vehicle of analysis.
d. From this exploration I will reveal a larger narrative of Rembrandts
divergent ideology of representing Jesus Jewishness struggling to push
against the widely accepted, Dutch interpretation of Jesus Christ.
II. RATIONALE:
a. Every visual representation of Jesus is a product of a specific context
(including the techniques used, subjects studied, time period, geographic
location, etc.) and by studying the contexts of Rembrandts paintings, we
will understand why and how the artists message was crafted.
b. By comparing Rembrandts work with other representations of Jesus from
different contexts around the world, a basis is provided for showing how
the image of Jesus is a direct representation of a cultures ideology and
experience with Christianity.
III. CONTROBUTION:
a. The Head of Christ portraits have been studied by hundreds of institutions
and art historians for years as beautiful and unique representations of a
humble, realistic Christ.
b. These pieces stand as power visual rhetoric that reveal hidden narratives,
subtle social commentaries, and countercultural ideologies for rhetorical
theorists to discover and study.
IV. THESIS:
a. Ideological criticism reveals Rembrandts controversial portrayal of a
Jewish Jesus in the Head of Christ to be more than an artists moment of
radical creativity, but acts as a powerful shift towards resisting the
hegemonic ideology of a European-featured Christ.
V. BODY:
A. Present ideological criticism as the main tool of analysis.
a. Ideologies map out how we use rhetoric and understanding these
ideologies reveal rhetorical elements.
b. This criticism method will allow a frame of analysis that explores
visual rhetoric represents a cultures beliefs and customs and
provide a foundation to show how Rembrandts work violated a
common ideology.
B. Present the artifact: Head of Christ.
a. Scholars believe that Rembrandts work stemmed from a desire to
honor Jesus ethnic heritage by painting him with realistic, Jewish
features.
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i. He did so, not as much to glorify the Jewish people, but to

provide a true Jesus.
ii. Explore Rembrandts relationship with his Jewish
neighbors who would become his inspiration.
b. Throughout his career, Rembrandt portrayed Christ many times,
however, these portraits were far differently from his earlier works.
i. Explore the reasons for this shift.
c. Provide how the Dutch viewed Christ in the 1600s
i. Dutch (European) vs. Jewish Culture
C. Analysis of the painting
a. Identify presented elements:
i. The painting uses dark colors to evoke a somber reflection
on humanity.
ii. This Jesus is reserved, modest, and tame.
iii. Compare this Christ to the Christ to Rembrandts earlier
pieces.
b. Identify the suggested elements:
i. These drastically different portrayals of Jesus show a major
shift from presenting Jesus as a biblical character to,
simply, a young, Jewish man.
ii. The dark colors of the Head of Christ frame Jesus as a
modest man, just another member of humanity.
iii. His expression seems to reflect the narrative of the Jewish
people.
c. Formulate ideology
i. Although both figures created by Rembrandt are called
Jesus, they are not the same Christ; these two pieces tell
different Messianic narratives.
D. Physical characteristics of different representations reveal the Messianic
narrative of different cultures.
a. Jesus has been found represented in many different religions.
i. Example: The Messiah figure to African slaves
ii. Example: The historical figure of Jesus influences Judaism
differently from Islam or Taoism.
iii. How the narratives are shown in their art (provide
examples to compare to Head of Christ)
b. This reveals that visual rhetoric is a reflection of ideology.
VI. CONCLUSION:
a. These different narratives reveal how Christ and Christianity are viewed
around the world.
i. Understanding those ideologies can open doors to understanding
Messianic narratives on religious, cultural and political levels.
b. Rembrandts portraits are not just art, but important pieces of rhetoric that
reveal a realistic perspective of Christ during a time that called for a
powerful, wise, conquering Savior.
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