The artists of various fields as well as from the different corners of the world had presented Jesus and his life in their own style. These artistic presentations are a result of the feelings and experiences about Jesus expressed in the form of paintings, sculptures, Music, poetry as well as film and are very influential.

INTRODUCTION:

The bible tells us all about the life of Jesus. According to bible, He was born during the period of the Roman emperor, Augustus, in Israel, some where in 4 BC. It is believed by the Christian world that the death of Jesus is the death of God. Therefore, He is the highest object one can possibly imagine with respect to religion. He is a person who is to lead mankind in virtue and truth with a special express and unique mission granted by God.

The traditional approach of the artists presenting Jesus in their artistic modes demonstrates blind faith on their religious concepts, which they have expressed in paintings and sculptures as well as music and poetry. They had portrayed the character of Jesus by keeping in mind his nature of command, power, sympathy, charm, authority, affection, cheerfulness and the gravity of his soul.
In the initial years, the artists were not that articulate and expressive in portraying these aspects; it was observed that some impressions were missing in their works. However, later on with slow development and new innovations, these aspects were being presented more clearly in sculptures as well as paintings. Nonetheless, Jesus is portrayed as a symbol of strength, joy, poise and grace.

With a view to multidisciplinary study about Jesus, it was found he was the most central figure in history. He is also the most influential part that has a wide-ranging impact on the religion, society, culture, literature, art and philosophy. Each religious tradition of Christianity perceives him in a different manner. For instance people have seen him as a teacher, king, martyr, savior and a rebel. Therefore these countless varying images have influenced religion, history, art, culture as well as the social and political thoughts of that time, which still affects religion and society today as it did in his time. Encyclopedias also explore the changing images of Jesus in art, sculpture, music and literature pulling desperate fields into one powerful resource (Houltden, 2003). In this paper, an attempt is made to understand the presentations of Jesus in different times and traditions keeping the painting, sculpture, music and film as the major areas of concern.

MEDIEVAL ART:
The early middle ages were a period when Roman art and German art were mixed together to form a new and more impressive art. When the Romans started conquering Greece in 200 BC, they changed the Roman style of art a lot. The Roman artist saw a lot of Greek art in the temples, and public places as well as houses. So, they learned a lot from them and blended it into their artwork, which was reflected in later times.
Rome:

Among the earliest manifestations one finds the early 3rd-century paintings on the walls of the catacombs in Rome. But the style resembles that of the Secular Roman wall painting with usually the biblical figure as the main subject matter. A ‘Fish’ and ‘Peacock’ are symbolized for the hope of resurrection and immortality. In this period, Jonah, Daniel and Susanna are observed in scenes of miracles by divine intervention. However, the scope of Christian art was radically enlarged after following the official recognition of Christianity (Columbia Encyclopedia, 2001).
Russia: Greeks and the Greek-trained Russians were the earliest painters of religious art in Russia. These painters were the followers of the iconography and form of the Byzantine school. It is in the 11th – 14th century where one finds paintings rendering the human figure, ranged from an extremely hieratic and intellectual concept to a softer and more devotional image. The interesting developments in the paintings of Russians were the addition of a number of Saints to the Byzantine Hierarchy. The saints include Vladimir, Olga, Boris, Gleb and Alexander Nevsky.

With the Tatar invaders, little art could flourish, which remained as free and dominant culture until the rise of Moscow by the end of the 15th century. During the late 14th –15th Century, icon art was considered to be the highest achievement as a part of Russian art. These were basically the Greek painters who were found more expressive and they introduced new iconographical motifs and scenes of miracles, which they imbued with great vitality. This high level was maintained in the icon painting until the 17th century, which later deteriorated into an ornate that is an extremely convention-ridden art.

RENAISSANCE:
Early Renaissance: The following are the painters, artists and sculptures of the early renaissance period:
1. Giotto, known as “the father of renaissance” and is characterized as a proto-renaissance painter. His innovations also included the approximate use of perspective, increased volume of figures and depth of emotions. These innovations highlight human feelings instead of static and passive icons.
2. Masaccio was a great artist of this period who was an expert in making sculptures of human anatomy. His remarkable work is done in the 500’s AD, when he portrayed Jesus raising Lasarus back to the living world.
3. Peiro della Francesca: He expressed an obsession, which is seen, in his sculptural understanding of figures and in the sensitivity of his geometrical purity of shapes.
4. Donatello is another great sculptor who brought a new sense of naturalism to sculpture. For instance his ‘David’ is believed to be the very first full-scale nude sculpture since ancient times.
5. Andrea Mantegna is also a great painter of that time who created unusual vantage points in paintings. For instance, this was demonstrated in the “Lamination of the Dead Christ”
6. Sandro Botticelli was another artist who is remembered as the first to paint a full-length female nude in the Birth of Venus. Actually, this figure recalls the exact pose of a Greek sculpture called as “The Venus de Medici” where the central figure is traditionally reserved for the subject of the Virgin. It may asserted that these paintings presenting the history, leave great influence for the art lovers.

Italian Renaissance or MODERN AGE:
This is the period of rebirth and actual development and innovations in art, painting and sculpture. The way of thinking was changed and a new birth was brought in the history art and culture. This new way of thinking is called as “humanism” which traces back to the Greek concept of man as the measure of all things (Key Innovations…, 2004). Most apparent changes were found in the paintings and sculptures. Though not leaving the traditional medieval culture, artists started illustrating the biblical stories with the combination of classical ideas and depicting nature in their work

We find the artistic presentation in various forms and different areas and regions like the Greeks, Romans and Italians as well as the Syrian artist related to painting, poetry, sculpture all had presented their expressions, thoughts and experiences about Jesus. The artistic works found from the Syrian church is not much influential. There work is less emotional and not appealing to all but some also presented realistic sufferings of Jesus. Nonetheless an oriental imagination is also found presenting almost every detail about the history of Christ. Where the Cross is linked by Isaac of Antioch to the action of the stroke that builds the nest on the treetop to get safe from the insidious approach of the snake and the crown of the thorns are suggesting a wall to get safe asylum to that nest surrounded and protecting all the children of God. These children are gathered in the nest from the winged foes and the Hawks (Knight, 2003). This was a presentation of the history of Christ.

ARTISTIC PRESENTATION via FILM:
The ‘Mel Gibson’ movie is the most brilliant artistic presentation of Jesus. In this movie, “The passion of the Christ”, a complete presentation is given for understanding Jesus. The movie depicts in detail the fulfillment of Prophecy in the scriptures. His (Jesus’) suffering, death and his resurrection are presented in a very beautiful manner as wounded for our transgressions and bruised for iniquities. The whole chapter of ‘Isaiah’ 53 predicted the coming of Jesus to suffer and be crucified for the sins of man. This is what the ‘Passion’ is about. So, it can be asserted that this movie as a form of art is very impressive, and is a fine piece tat tells the story of the last days of Jesus. One nice depiction of art in the movie is when Mary sees Jesus carrying the cross to the hill after being beaten and falling to the ground. She (Mary) runs to him in sorrow and Jesus says "behold I will make all things new", which meant ‘I will raise from the dead and all things will become new’.

SIGNIFICANCE:

Examples could be derived by various artworks of Jesus. For example, Jesus playing with a baby in a painting, a painting tat depicts what Jesus use to eat and how He used to eat bread. In addition to these depictions, there are others that express the importance of truth in relation to Jesus. These depict Jesus’ teaching that if one follows truth and keeps a stand on truth that person would make Jesus happy and would be a follower of Him. These examples highlight the religious as well as social and spiritual aspects of Jesus and his life. All these are a source of historical as well as religious information, which are very significant for the coming generations to learn about Jesus via an interesting method of paintings and sculpture.

Another significance of these artistic contributions is that it is presented in various languages. It also has the traditional and cultural touch as well as presented form, from different corners of the world. So, in this way people from all cultures, can understand and learn about Jesus and his life. This helps us understand the significance of not only art in history but also the religious culture of Europe. Moreover, it makes us realize how important the study of art is, culture, sculpture, colors and paintings so the trend can continue. The present generation will be able to receive information in easy and fun method and would transfer it in similar manner by learning the latest techniques of art and literature. This will widen the scope of art, paintings and sculpture as it is dipped into the strong taste of History.