The_Hair_of_Savior.pdf

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Hair
The image of Christ in the Byzantine artistic tradition is the result of consolidated visual
information. All images of Christ throughout history within this tradition are nearly the
same, with only minor differences. Christ's hair is also the subject of this invariability, being
a harmonious set of locks that ripple around the face.
The hair is divided into two parts, right and left, separated exactly along the line of the nasal
axis. Each side is divided into four parts ("hair locks"), and each hair lock one side has its
counterpart on the other side.
The hair is wavy and long, and it is thrown to the back. It covers the back of the neck and is
larger on the left side. Some of its length is seen on the left shoulder due to the 60/40
rotation of the head to the right. The image shows that Christ's hair is long, and it is a
testimony to Him being a Nazirite, a person dedicated to God (according to the vows
described in the Book of Numbers 6:1-12). The Nazirites refrained from cutting the hair and
allowed their hair to grow long.
The head of Christ is painted with a slight rotation (the "60/40 turn"). This results in
numerous modifications of symmetrical proportions of the face as well as his hair. If the
face were painted without this particular turn, all parts of the face and head would be the
same - the same two eyes, the same two eyebrows, the same hair configuration on the right
and on the left and so on.
Mechanical repetition of symmetrical shapes robs the image of vitality, but a harmonious
placement of similar shapes lends beauty, expressiveness, and richness to the image. That
is to say, there has to be certain symmetrical repetition which conveys logical construction
and a highly organized reality. At the same time, it cannot be a mechanical replication of
identical forms.
The larger hair locks on both sides are painted in symmetrical fashion. Between these hair
locks on each side, small recesses are formed on the outer boundary of the hair. The
distance between these indentation is nearly the same, and their placement on both sides
of the head is symmetrical as well; if you draw straight lines through them across the face,
you will see that they are all parallel to each other and are also parallel to the ocular axis.
There are four of these reference axes:
1.
2.
3.
4.
The ocular axis (C-c1); the line that passes through the four corners of the eyes;
The axis that passes through the top of the upper lip (B-b1);
The axis that passes through the lower point of the chin (А-а1);
The axis that passes through the upper third of the forehead (D-d1).
An iconographer must memorize these axes in order to paint the hair of Christ from
memory correctly, and also detect errors.
Each of the larger hair locks is in turn made of strands of hair Each strand is modeled with
light, and they are all generally of equal width within a hair lock; they are also separated by
narrow darker grooves. These strands of hair receive the first and second light in the middle
part only, as to create the effect of the form. The darker grooves are left in the color of hair
proplasmos; these are not modeled with light. As these grooves extend to the inner and
outer boundaries of the head, they are first painted with burnt sienna, and the ends are
darkened with burnt umber.
The hair and the face form two non-concentric circles; these two circles touch in the area of
the neck (Point A). From that point, these circles grow outwards exponentially.
The four segments of the hair follow these rules:
(Note: in iconography, when we say "left side," we mean the portrayed person's left side, not
ours. That is to say, the left side of Christ is on the right side of the image)
On the right side:
The segment
A-B
correlates with the curve of the beard;
The segment
B-C
moves parallel to the line of the earlobe;
The segment
C-D
braces the brow ridges;
The segment
D-E-d1
is one large semicircle, a simple geometric form; it correlates with the
forehead.
On the left side:
The segment
d1-c1
corresponds to the segment
CD
on the right side. Its direction, however
is opposite to the analogous arc on the right side:
Note that the change of direction necessitates in a significant decrease of the recess at the
point d1.
The segment
c1-b1
is analogous to the segment
CB.
In the segment
b1-a1,
we have two hair locks instead of one. This breaks monotony and
formal repetition.
Under the left ear (b1-f1), the extended lock of hair rolls in three small hair locks towards
the left shoulder and falls behind the back. The first two hair locks (b1-a1) correspond to
and balance with the segment
A-B
on the opposite side. The third, lower hair lock does not
have a visible corresponding counterpart on the right side; it is there as an expression of
continuity: Christ's hair falls to the back, where we cannot see it. The end of visible hair is
at point
f1.
It is worth noting that if we draw a line from the point
f1,
parallel to
A-a1,
we
find that at the point where it intersects the shoulder (G), the halo begins.
All four parallel lines that define the placement of the hair locks (A-a1, B-b1, C-c1, and D-
d1) are perpendicular to the nasal axis and are equidistant from each other.
Let us again observe the right side. Starting in the point
A
and going up, the hair area
widens continuously towards
B
and
C.
At the point
C,
the distance between the recess in
C
and the cheekbone boundary (J) is about half the length of the nose or less. It is worth
noting that the distance between
C
and the pupil of the smaller eye (H) is the full length of
the nose, and the boundary of the cheekbone is somewhere in the middle between the
pupil and the recess point
C.

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