Jesus, The Most Famous Baby In Art, Needed To Look Like A Fully Formed Adult
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When portraying Jesus Christ, the most frequently depicted baby in medieval art, painters took their cues from prevailing Christian beliefs. At the time, the church believed Christ was essentially a perfectly formed and unchanging man during his entire life.
It meant the Christ child needed to appear in adult form because he was not supposed to change with age. The church did not want Christ represented as a baby; Instead, they preferred a miniature man.
At The Time, Most Art Was Commissioned By Christian Churches
During the medieval era, privately commissioned portraits were still rare. Most paintings of children were commissioned by the Christian church, which meant the subjects were usually limited to a few biblical babies, including the infant Jesus.
Since Jesus was far and away the most commonly painted baby, other infants in medieval art naturally began to share the Christ child's middle-aged characteristics.
Artists Were Influenced By The Idea Of The Homunculus
Medieval artists' proclivity for painting babies with adult features came in part from the theory of the homunculus, which means "little man." According to the belief, a homunculus is a fully formed human thought to exist before conception. The idea first took hold when the alchemist Paracelsus used the term in his instructions for creating a baby without fertilization or gestation.
The homunculus theory spread into other disciplines including theology, reproductive science, and art.