Bas Uterwijk, a Dutch photographer, has created a series of images of famous people, including Jesus Christ, using AI (artificial intelligence).
Uterwijkβs photo of the Jesus most accurately depicts him with brown skin, brown eyes, and a short beard.
I made three! pic.twitter.com/1jk7lec25f
β Ganbrood (Bas Uterwijk) (@ganbrood) August 25, 2020
Uterwijk createdΒ three versionsΒ of Jesus, each with a subtle change in skin tone and hair length.
How did he do it?
Uterwijk used existing works depicting Jesus with software called Art Breeder, βwhich generates photorealistic images from multiple images.β
Teller Reportβs translation of aΒ French article on Uterwijkβs Jesus photos share the following:
βFor one of the images, I added a little historical truth,β he explains. βIn one of the three versions, Jesus has shorter hair because historians do not believe that at that time, in the region of Galilee, in Israel, a man could have had hair so long.β β¦
βSometimes I try to be as realistic as possible and sometimes I try to give a representation of how we perceive a character in history,β concludes the photographer.
Contrary to popular Western interpretations of Jesusβ appearance, researchers have long suggested that the historical Jesus likely had aΒ brown or olive complexionΒ and short hair.Β Popular imagesΒ of the Christian Savior in the U.S. tend to resemble an Anglo, with blue eyes, pale skin, and long, flowing hair.
Uterwijkβs A.I.-generated portraits include dozens of well-known figures, including Napoleon, George Washington, and Vincent Van Gogh.
The images can be viewed on his Instagram account or on his website.