Christ

Jesus is depicted with long wavy hair parted in the middle and a bifurcated beard, his gaze directed calmly toward the viewer. The portrait is surrounded by extensive Dutch and Latin text, including a version of the Letter of Lentulus, a forged document from the Middle Ages that claims to be an eyewitness report by a Roman official to the Emperor Tiberius. The typography and layout integrate the image into a devotional and literary context intended for the 'Den Grooten Emblemata Sacra' series.

The Letter of Lentulus was the primary textual source for the standard Western iconography of Christ, influencing artists to seek a 'True Likeness' based on written tradition rather than pure imagination. In the context of early modern natural philosophy and Neoplatonism, such images were often understood as windows into the divine essence, where physical beauty mirrored spiritual perfection.