👀 A Medieval Tarantino Portrait?
You'll never, ever forget this face
Apparently, if you dig deep enough into art history and meticulously study 13th-century Italian iconography, you might just stumble upon early depictions of the American director and screenwriter Quentin Tarantino. Because seriously, the resemblance here is uncanny.
Maybe it’s one of Tarantino’s long-lost Italian ancestors. Maybe it’s a medieval doppelgänger. Or maybe it’s none of the above, because in reality, this face belongs to the most depicted man in art history, which isn’t Quentin Tarantino, but that of another great storyteller called Jesus Christ of Nazareth. But isn’t Jesus usually depicted with long hair and a beard? Well, it depends.
The reason why this particular Jesus doesn’t have a beard is simple: He’s still a baby. And babies don’t have beards. But then again, most babies don’t have the receding hairline of a middle-aged accountant either. So why does he look this way?
Well, it’s certainly not because the artist didn’t know what babies look like. No, depicting baby Jesus as a middle-aged man was a very deliberate choice, quite common in medieval Christian iconography. It’s meant to emphasize that Jesus wasn’t just your average drooling baby. No, he was a wise and divine baby, fully aware of his mission, even as an infant.
Because while middle-aged baby Jesus might look like he’s about to order two beers after a long week of working in accountancy, in reality, this man-child is raising his hand to bless us all. And all the while, his mother, Mary, looks like she’s silently wondering what in God’s name she’s holding.
With these kinds of depictions, the artists of the time weren’t aiming for a lifelike resemblance—they were prioritizing theology over realism. What mattered wasn’t what Jesus looked like, but what he meant.
Leaving us with just one unresolved question: If it’s okay to make baby Jesus look like a seasoned, wise man, why not give him a beard, too? Well, apparently, that was the line medieval artists wouldn’t cross, because after all, a baby with a beard? Now that would be weird.
Baby Jesus’ unsettling face is the very first one you’ll meet in my upcoming book Stupid Faces in Stunning Paintings — a collection of 50 stories about the wacky side of great art. I’m insanely proud of this book. I poured my soul into it. So yes, I’m going to promote the hell out of it.
Cue sales pitch.
Stupid Faces is now available now to pre-order in English (coming March 31st, 2026). If you’re thinking of getting the book and want to support The Gaze, pre-ordering really helps, as it signals to bookstores that people are interested. Oh, and if you speak Dutch, lucky you: the Dutch edition has already hit the stores.
If you follow me on Instagram, TikTok, or YouTube, you know I make art videos. Quite a lot of them, actually. So, as a little bonus, I’m gonna spotlight one of them here as well.
📺 The hidden tattoo
It was all over the news in Belgium and the Netherlands: the discovery of a tattoo that went unnoticed for over 350 (!) years — even though it sat smack in the middle of a huge artwork hanging on the walls of the Amsterdam Museum.
No one noticed. Or no one bothered to care. Because what people didn’t realize is that it’s the oldest known depiction of a tattoo in Western art. Quite the find. But can you spot it?
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Love, Matthijs
Supertof. Al aantal mooie verhalen gelezen in je boek maar de nieuwsbrief is tof!
Keep them comming! Love it!