Laura Battiferra’s “Letter from Lentulus” and the Likeness of Christ in Renaissance Italy

Abstract

WHAT DID CHRIST LOOK LIKE? Nowhere does the Bible describe his physical features. Silence conceals his appearance. To supplement scripture, miraculously created images of him emerged early on and, alongside them, written records with purported eyewitness authority. Carried by legend through the centuries, these testimonials have, ironically, turned the Bible’s invisible man into the figure most frequently portrayed and widely recognized in all Christendom. One such witness is the so-called “Letter from Lentulus,” believed to have been sent by a contemporary of Christ in Judea to the Roman Senate, so they could know what the remarkable prophet looked like. That apocryphal missive, probably dating from eighthcentury Byzantium, came to enjoy enormous popularity in medieval and Renaissance Europe, preserved in countless manuscripts and print editions, both Latin and vernacular. To enhance the simple text, most often in prose, devout Christians adapted it into rhyme, an artistic expression of veneration. Among them was the