For centuries, the appearance of Jesus Christ has been a subject of intense debate among scholars and historians. Traditional Western art often depicted him as a tall, muscular European with blond hair and blue eyes, but most experts agree that a carpenter’s son from ancient Palestine would have had a shorter, stockier build and curly black hair.

Now, a Dutch photographer and digital artist, Bas Uterwijk, has used cutting-edge artificial intelligence technology to create a “historically accurate” portrait of Jesus. By combining various cultural depictions of Jesus from Byzantine and Renaissance origins, as well as elements from ancient Middle-Eastern artwork, Uterwijk has crafted a striking image that offers a new perspective on the Messiah’s appearance.

While the portrait is not a scientific representation, it provides an artistic impression of how Jesus might have looked, embracing historical context and cultural influences. This groundbreaking image has resurfaced in 2021, sparking renewed interest in the age-old question of Jesus’s true appearance.

According to the Bible, Jesus was born in 4 BC to a Jewish family in Bethlehem, later moving to Nazareth, which is now part of Israel. With this AI-generated portrait, we catch a glimpse of what the historical figure may have looked like, bridging the gap between centuries of speculation and the power of modern technology.