Bas Uterwijk set out to define the image of Christ by taking all known relics and paintings of him from the turn of the millenium and not using any references to him as the Anglo Saxon that he is portrayed. We all know that Jesus was from Nazareth and Mary, his mother was of that Middle Eastern descent. As such, the AI that was fed nothing but images of Christ of that time, depicted a photo realistic representation to the left.

As part of the Vatican project, I set out to place this image in oil as this would be the first traditional oil painting of Jesus in the Vatican.

To start the image was transferred of Bas's original photo to the canvas in a modern technique similar to that of those of the old Masters in Rome during the Renaissance, through a rough sketch. Today, tools are made available to speed up the production of images without the use of charcoal, pencil and rice paper as was traditionally used on the frescos of the Renaissance.

Once the image was set on the Canvas, there was no hesitation in making the realistic copy of the AI image, combined with slight adjustments to the length and width of the face along with skin tone, with Christ being depicted with short hair for the very first time, which adds to the humanity he began to bring to the world in his ministry.

Although a controversial topic in the Church, the short hair does seem to age him appropriately for his time as a youth.

Phase 2 consisted of matching a facial expression for Christ that would permeate his humor, for his passion for life in abundance, not only to represent his humility but also to express his intent for mankind. Bas also captured this element in his depiction of Christ and for Keyan it was imperative that it would match the image to express the joy and most of all happiness that we all know of when it comes to the LORD.

Before the ice storm in Texas of 2021, the framed oil painting was sent via Fed Ex to a monestary in Florence to a local Father accompanied with a letter to Pope Francis. The presentation date to the Pope has been delayed due to COVID and will be announced at a later date.

As such, this painting now resides in The Vatican at this current time and is awaiting presentation. (or may have been presented to Pope Francis, Keyan just may not be aware of it, as the whole thing has not clicked for him yet. He is still a bit overwhelmed.)