Where did the original graphical Jesus origninate? Does the historical Jesus resemble this idealistic resemblance?
I watched a documentary on this once, and it basically said that it came from perceptions of Jesus having a beard on the Shroud of Turin.
I don’t know if this was the same special, but there was one being shown either on the History channel or the Discovery channel that was attempting to refute the carbon dating on the Shroud of Turin, which stated that all of the elements of the face on the Shroud also appear on the vast majority of the representations of Jesus. Allegedly this was taken to be proof of the shroud’s authenticity, but I suppose this could go either way.
Completely OT, but the thread title got Depeche Mode’s “Personal Jesus” running through my brain and I had to tell you all 
…reach out and touch me…
…reach out and touch me…
LL
He looks like his brothers Philip & Matty.
THAT was funny!
If you look at paintings of Jesus in chronological order, you will notice a gradual transformation from Arabic features to the modern white bread Jesus that hangs on your grandmother’s kitchen wall today.
Go into an Irish church, and look at the pictures of Jesus. He looks Irish. Check out an Italian church-- He looks Italian. Hispanic church? You guessed it.
Everyone who creates depictions of Jesus is likely to be strongly influenced by the appearance of people in their community. What did Jesus really look like? Probably a lot like the other Middle Easterners of that time period: Dark hair, somewhat dark complexion, and a beard.