Fielding questions: Why does baby Jesus look like an old man?

I'll go ahead on this one because I get it a lot. But then again, a lot of the people who ask this question can't be looking for an answer. If they had an answer they couldn't keep asking this funny question. If you're one of those who asks this question often, believe me I won't be offended if you keep asking it for its comic value.

Why does baby Jesus look like an old man?

Understanding the answer to this question requires a leap of faith: medieval artists were smart people. They were skilled at this facet of art called iconography. There is meaning behind medieval paintings. A lot of it goes right over our heads because we either cannot read the Latin inscriptions or don't have a priest reading the accompanying passages.

In a typical Madonna and Child image from, say, the thirteenth century, Christ does not look like a newborn infant. In paintings like the Madonna degli Occhi Grossi (you can google it, it comes right up) he might strike some as kind of like an older man. But he's not. He's supposed to be a child. Not necessarily a newborn, just a child. If he was an older Jesus, he would obviously have a beard.

The iconography of this type of painting is to show the intercession of God's word through Mary. By holding Jesus at her midsection, Mary holds the Word in her, and transmits it to us. Therefore it is apt that Christ be a child in these paintings. There's a lot of meaning to the Madonna and child painting, and it has to be painted just so, or else it gets messed up.

It takes a little respect for the theologians and painters of the middle ages to accept that maybe, just maybe, they weren't trying to paint a newborn infant. That came in time, and the first who tried it nailed it: folks like Giovanni Pisano in 1300. Since this is my field, I respect them deeply for their talent and their use of iconography. If you're curious about why the forehead is round, there's a meaning for that too (let me know if you want to hear more about that.)

Here are some myths I've heard about why mevieval painters depicted Christ as a man (which they didn't, I'm telling you, he's a little boy.) Anywho, 1) Only wetnurses got to see the babies, so medieval painters didn't know what babies looked like. 2) They thought Christ was never a baby and that it was a miracle. 3) They really tried to make it look like a baby, but it kept coming out like an old man until Giotto taught everyone how to paint.

Believe me, none of these myths are the answer. Why does baby Jesus look like an old man in medieval painting? Because he doesn't; he actually does look like a child, which is what he's supposed to be, not an old man, and every component of the image of Christ is loaded with meaning in this era.