Where and why did the contemporary image of Jesus and other Christian figures as Caucasian originate from?

by soulreaverdan

So a lot of modern depictions of Jesus are pretty firmly white/Caucasian, going as far back as things like DaVinci’s depiction in The Last Supper. Given that Jesus would have been firmly Middle Eastern, as well as… pretty much everyone else involved at the time, how and where did the depiction of him and other Christian figures as Caucasian/white come from?

CptNoble

While waiting for any further answers, you might check out u/sunagainstgold's fantastic response to this subject.