In 1630 an artist named Fernandez Gregorio created a painting called “Dead Christ.”

The painting shows Christ at the time of his death, blood from his scourges and crown of thorns running down his hair and body, his face contorted with pain. Wearied and weak, Jesus’ expression seems to heave a final sigh, as though succumbing to the weight of the world. Indeed. The painting was designed by Gregorio to portray the sins of humanity cast upon Christ’s body. The “Sacred Head Now Wounded” shows the depravity of a fallen and broken world taken on by the surrogate Christ, a shocking portrait of sin-sick souls.

Much like the portrait in Oscar Wilde’s 1891 novel, The Portrait of Dorian Gray, which progressively displayed the ugliness of Gray’s treacherous character and evil disposition, despite his m…