Maria Valtorta has observed the physical appearances of Jesus and His Mother, Mary, on multiple occasions, at times through visions of scenes from Their mortal lives, and when They would appear to her. Below are excerpt descriptions of Them:
And I got lost contemplating His face and observing the smallest details. And I shall repeat them for you once more. His hair parted in the middle of His head and falling in long locks down to His shoulders. Wavy for a full palm’s-length, then ending in a real curl. Shiny, thin, neatly combed, bright blond, with marked coppery tones especially in the final curl. A very high, beautiful forehead, as smooth as a sash, with slightly hollowed temples on which the pale blue veins leave light indigo shadows appearing under the very white skin, with that special whiteness of certain individuals with reddish blond hair: a milky whiteness with a gradation slightly tending towards ivory, but with a very light touch of blue, quite delicate skin resembling the petal of a white camelia, so thin that the slightest vein shows through and so sensitive that every emotion is depicted on it, with more intense paleness and brighter blushes.
But I have always seen Jesus as pale, only a little tanned by the sun, which He liberally assimilated during His three-year passage through Palestine.
A long, straight nose, with just a bit of a curve above, near His eyes—a very handsome, thin, well-shaped nose. Deep-set, very beautiful eyes, of the color I have so often described as very dark sapphire. Thick eyebrows and eyelashes, but not excessively so—long, beautiful, shiny, dark brown, but with a microscopic spark of gold at the summit of each hair. An even, smallish mouth, well-shaped, closely resembling His Mother’s, with lips just thick enough, neither too thin, so as to appear serpentine, nor too pronounced. In the center they are rounded and accentuated in a fine curve, and at the sides they disappear, making the very beautiful mouth seem to diminish out of sight, with its healthy red opening over even, vigorous teeth which are rather long and very white.
Thin, but not gaunt, cheeks. A very narrow, long oval, but quite beautiful, with cheekbones which neither protrude nor recede excessively His beard, thick on His chin and dividing into two curly points, surrounds, but does not cover, His mouth as far as the lower lip and rises, shorter and shorter, towards His cheeks, where, at the level of the corners of His mouth, it becomes very short, limited to leaving a shadow, like a smattering of copper, on the paleness of His cheeks. Where it is thick, the beard is a dark copper color, a dark reddish blond. And so is His mustache, not very thick and kept short, so that it barely covers His upper lip between His nose and the lip and is reduced at the corners of His mouth. Small, well-shaped ears closely joined to His head. They do not protrude at all. (The Notebooks: 1943)
Jesus is never sullen, not even when He is more disgusted with something that has happened, but is always majestically dignified and communicates such supernatural dignity to the place in which He moves. Jesus is never a jolly fellow or a complainer laughing coarsely or looking hypochondriac, not even in the moments of greatest delight or deepest depression. His smile is inimitable. No painter will ever be able to reproduce it. It is like a light emanating from His heart, a bright light in the hours of greatest joy because a soul has been redeemed or approaches Perfection: I would say a rosy smile, when He approves of the spontaneous deeds of His friends or disciples and enjoys their company; a blue angelical smile, to remain in the field of hues, when He bends over children to listen to them, teach them and then bless them; a smile mitigated by piety when He looks at the miseries of the flesh or the spirit; finally a divine smile, when He speaks of His Father or Mother, or looks at or listens to His Most Pure Mother.
I have never seen Him hypochondriac, not even in the hours of bitter torment. During the torture of being betrayed, during the anguish when He sweated blood, and the spasm of His passion, if melancholy overwhelmed the sweet refulgence of His smile, it was not sufficient to cancel the peace, which is like a diadem shining with heavenly gems on His smooth forehead and enlightening His divine person. Neither have I ever seen Him indulge in immoderate merriment. He is not averse to a hearty laugh, when the case demands it, but He immediately resumes His noble serenity. But when He laughs, He prodigiously looks younger, to the extent of looking like a twenty year old man and the world seems to blossom through His lovely, hearty, loud, melodious laughter. Neither can I say that I have seen Him do things hurriedly. Whether He moves or speaks, He does so calmly, without, however, being sluggish or listless. It is probably because, tall as He is, He can stride, without running, to go a long way and He can likewise reach at distant things without having to stand up to do so. Even the way He moves is certainly gentlemanly and majestic.
And what about His voice? Well: I have heard Him speak for almost two years, and yet at times I lose the thread of His speech as I become so engrossed in studying His voice. And Jesus, very kindly and patiently, repeats what He said and He looks at me with His smile of the good Master to ensure that nothing is missing in His dictation because of my delight in enjoying and listening to His voice and studying its tone and charm. But after two years I am not in a position to say precisely what the tone is. I definitely exclude the bass tone and also the light tenor tone. But I am always doubtful whether it is a powerful tenor voice or a perfect baritone voice with a very wide vocal range. I would say that it is the latter because His voice at times takes bronze-like notes, mellow and so deep, particularly when He speaks to a sinner, to lead him back to Grace or He points out human deviations to crowds. But when He analyses or condemns forbidden things or He shows the hypocrisy of men, the bronze notes of His voices become clearer; and they are as sharp as the peal of thunder when He imposes the Truth or His will and they vibrate like a sheet of gold struck with a crystal hammer when He sings the praises of Mercy or exalts the work of God; but the timbre of His voice is a most loving one when He speaks to or about His Mother. Jesus’ voice is then really imbued with love: the reverent love of a son, and the love of God Who praises His most perfect work. And He uses the same tone, although not so strongly, when speaking to His favourites, to converts and to children. And His voice never tires, not even in very long speeches, because it colours and completes His thoughts and words, emphasising their power or kindness, according to the case. (The Poem of the Man-God: Vol. 2)
As they often do while walking, perhaps to alleviate the monotony of their continuous travelling with this distraction, the apostles speak to one another recapitulating and commenting on the latest events, questioning now and again the Master, Who in general speaks very little, just not to be unkind, making such effort only when it is the case of teaching the crowds or His apostles, or correcting wrong ideas, or comforting unhappy people.
Jesus was the « Word », but He certainly was not a « chatterbox »! As patient and kind as nobody else, He never appeared to be bored when He had to repeat a concept once, twice, ten times, a hundred times to make it enter the heads hardened by pharisaical and rabbinical precepts, neglecting His own tiredness, at times so exhausting as to be painful, in order to relieve the moral or physical suffering of a person. But it is clear that He prefers to be silent, keeping aloof in quiet meditation which may last for many hours, if He is not distracted by someone questioning Him. He generally walks ahead of His apostles, with His head slightly bent, raising it now and again to look at the sky, the country, people, animals. I said to look. But that is wrong. I must say: to love. Because it is a smile, God’s smile that from His eyes pours forth to caress the world and creatures: a love-smile. Because it is love that shines forth, spreads, blesses and purifies the light of His eyes, which are so bright, most bright, when He comes out of intense concentration.
What are His concentrations like? I think—and I am sure that I am not mistaken, because it is enough to watch His countenance to see what they are—I think that they are much more than our ecstasies in which a human creature already lives in Heaven. They are the « sensible reunion of God with God ». Divinity is always present and united to the Christ, Who is God like the Father. On the Earth as in Heaven the Father is in the Son and the Son is in the Father, They love each other and by loving each other They generate the Third Person. The power of the Father is the generation of the Son and the act of generating and being generated creates the Fire, that is, the Spirit of the Spirit of God. The Power turns to the Wisdom Whom It generated and Who turns to the Power in the joy of being One for the Other and of knowing each other for what They are. And since all good reciprocal knowledge creates love—even our imperfect knowledge does—there is the Holy Spirit… There is the One Who, if it were possible to add perfection to divine perfections, ought to be called the Perfection of Perfection. The Holy Spirit! The simple thought of Him fills one with light, joy, peace…
In the ecstasies of the Christ, when the incomprehensible mystery of the Unity and Trinity of God was renewed in the Most Sacred Heart of Jesus, what complete perfect, bright, sanctifying, joyful, peaceful production of love must have been engendered and must have spread like heat from a blazing furnace, like incense from a burning thurible, to kiss with the kiss of God the things created by the Father, made by means of the Son-Word, made for the Love, for the only Love, because all the operations of God are Love? And that is the look of the Man-God when as Man and as God He raises His eyes, which have contemplated in Himself the Father, Himself and the Love, to look at the Universe, admiring the creative power of God, as Man; rejoicing, as God, at being able to save it in the royal creatures of such creation: men.
Oh! no one can, no one will ever be able, neither poet, nor artist, nor painter, to make visible to the crowds that look of Jesus, when He comes off the embrace, from the sensible reunion with the Divinity, always united to the Man hypostatically, but not always so deeply sensible to the Man, Who was the Redeemer and Who thus, to His many sorrows, to His many annihilations had to add this one, this very deep grief, of no longer being always able to be in the Father, in the great vortex of the Love, as He was in Heaven: almighty… free… joyful. Wonderful is the power of His look in regard to miracles, most kind is the expression of His eyes as man, very sad the light of sorrow in the hours of grief… But they are still human, although perfect in expression. This look of God, Who has contemplated and loved Himself in the Triniform Unity is beyond comparison, there is no adjective for it… And the soul prostrates itself before Him, worshipping, having become a mere « nonentity » in the knowledge of God, but blessed in contemplating His infinite love. (The Poem of the Man-God: Vol. 4)
Mary, on the other hand, is whiter, for She was more withdrawn at home, and it is a rosier white. Jesus is ivory white, with that slight reflection of blue.
Mary’s [eyebrows], on the other hand, are very light brown, thinner and sparser. Perhaps they seem that way because they are much lighter, so light that they are nearly blond.
Mary’s [teeth], on the other hand, are quite small, but regular and evenly joined. (The Notebooks: 1943)
And even now that the vision is interrupted, as it happened yesterday, I am left with Mother near me, visible to my internal sight so clearly that I can describe for you the light rosy hue of Her cheeks, not very chubby but gently soft, the bright red of Her little lips and Her clear blue eyes sweetly shining between Her dark-blond eyelashes.
I can tell you how Her hair, divided into two on the crown of Her head, falls softly with three undulations on each side, as far down as to cover half of Her little rosy ears, and then disappears with its pale shiny gold behind the veil covering Her head (because I see Her with Her mantle over Her head, wearing a dress of paradisiac silk and a dark mantle, as thin as a veil, of the same cloth as the dress).
I can tell you that Her dress is tight round Her neck by means of a sheathing inside which runs a cord the ends of which form a knot in front at the base of Her neck. Likewise Her dress is gathered at Her waist by a thicker cord, also of white silk, hanging down Her side with two tassels.
I can even tell you that Her dress, tight as it is at Her neck and waist, forms seven round soft folds on Her breast, the only ornament of Her very modest garment.
I can inform you of the chastity emanating from all Her aspect, from Her so delicate and harmonious forms which make Her such an angelical woman. And the more I look at Her the more I suffer thinking of how much they made Her suffer and I wonder how they could have had no mercy on Her, so meek and kind, so delicate also in Her physical appearance. I look at Her and I can hear once again all the shouting on Calvary, also against Her, all the mockery and insults, all the maledictions shouted against Her because She was the Mother of the Convict. Now I see Her beautiful and tranquil. (The Poem of the Man-God: Vol. 1)
On January 2nd, 1944, in a transcript dictated to Maria Valtorta by Jesus, He explained His physical trait of being fair-haired:
It must be borne in mind that Galilee was not a vast world and that there were relatively few Galileans, who almost always married among themselves, and that bodily traits were thus repeated in two or three types which for centuries had been found over and over again on those faces. It would not be mistaken to say that in all the little towns, if one were to go back to the beginnings, two or three original family branches would be encountered which had married again and again among themselves, giving rise to a marked physical characteristic in the whole Galilean race.
It should thus cause no surprise that John [of Zebedee] displayed a physical resemblance to Me. He was a fair-haired Galilean—a particularity which was rarer than the case of the dark-haired Galilean, but which also existed. But his resemblance was even more marked as regards the spirit. (The Notebooks: 1944)
Below are sculptures and drawings of Jesus and Mary by sculptor and painter, Prof. Lorenzo Ferri, based on Maria Valtorta’s writings and with her guidance:
Below is the Shroud of Turin, an image of Jesus’s lifeless face:
A famous Italian artist and sculptor (and Shroud of Turin scholar), Professor Lorenzo Ferri, regularly met with Maria Valtorta in order to accurately draw over 300 illustrations of portraits and drawings of scenes from The Poem of the Man-God. What is the amazing thing is that for many of them, as he was drawing them, she would watch it to give him advice on how to draw it more accurately to make sure that the portraits were accurate to how she actually sees the people in her visions. She was very critical (in a good way) and precise down to the smallest details in such a way that we can say that what he drew is either exactly, or very close, to what many of these people actually looked like in real life 2000 years ago. An article relates:
'Lorenzo Ferri met Maria Valtorta in 1949 at Viareggio where the writer was living, bedridden due to paralysis. She seemed to him to be lucid, practical, and highly intelligent—the exact opposite of a fanatic. The artist showed her a photograph of his own lifelike reconstruction of the bust of the Shroud which was well received by expert Shroud researchers. However, he did not receive a praiseworthy review from her because “…it’s not like the Face of Christ that she sees.”
Overcome by irritation, Ferri asks her to describe what she sees and then he will try to draw it. This is how the adventure began between the artist, a skeptic who barely manages to restrain his impulsiveness, and Valtorta with her authoritative and frank character. They agree to work in a particular way: he would sit with his back to her with a pad of paper in hand so that she could observe his quick sketches and make suggestions. Then, he would put in the detail at home and submit it to her for approval.
The “dictated” illustrations were carried out over the course of about four years, but they are not the simple transcription of what Maria Valtorta described. Even though Ferri was on the same wavelength as Maria, the artist would give life and form to the faces and ambience using his own, unmistakable traits. If one of the drawings required more time, Lorenzo Ferri would complete the details in his studio in Rome, in which case her criticism or approval would arrive by mail. “The ambience of the [Last] Supper you sent me has been done well, but what happened to the faces?.. Why didn’t you draw the faces like the ones you did here at my place in 1950? As for the resurrection of Lazarus, I only half liked it because you had drawn him naked, whereas he should have been covered in bandages… Jesus’ face is really handsome, gentle and expressive—exactly as I remember Him during the (rare) moments when He was happy, serene, prayerful” (Letter of Maria Valtorta to Lorenzo Ferri, July 21, 1953).
One day while entering Valtorta’s room, Ferri noticed that her face was extremely white. She explained that she saw Jesus in the courtyard (where she could not go) [due to her physical condition] and He was showing His approval by nodding in front of Ferri’s pastel drawing of the Apostles that had been placed outside for the protective varnish to dry. He approved of them all with the exception of John, who was drawn with an excessively strong jaw. Without hesitation, the artist cut out that sheet and redesigned the jaw.
… There exists a similarity between Valtorta’s descriptions and Ferri’s studies of the Shroud. The artist spent years of research on the cloth and on the three stages of scientific testing for a synthetic reconstruction. One of the sketches he made under the guidance of Valtorta’s dictation made him realize that right there under his eyes, he instantly had an image bearing a complete resemblance to the one that had cost him years of effort and experimentation to produce. [That is, after a quickly drawn sketch under Maria Valtorta’s dictations and suggestions, Ferri was able to draw the equivalent with a level of accuracy and detail that he could only have achieved after years of research on the Shroud]. Ferri saw his encounter with Valtorta as being like the keystone of his Shroud research, which lasted twenty years and from that time, was very connected to undisputed and universally accepted knowledge. She was a part of that group of people that the artist called, “perfect opposites,” who forced him to focus on a problem which was always bringing him to more and more in-depth, scientific testing. For his part, Ferri was a true witness of Valtorta throughout those years, of which the personal letters and the artistic illustrations are a living reflection.’
You can buy a book called Valtorta and Ferri which contains over 300 illustrations of portraits and drawings of scenes in the Poem which Lorenzo Ferri drew with Maria Valtorta’s guidance. (A Summa and Encyclopedia to Maria Valtorta’s Extraordinary Work)
