The Crucifixion Hustler

About

The Crucifixion Hustler is a nickname given to the Biblical figure Saint Veronica, who is depicted in classical art renderings of Christ's crucifixion with a veil that has Jesus' face on it. After a Twitter / X user joked that the piece made it look like Saint Veronica was selling Jesus merchandise at the crucifixion, other pieces featuring Saint Veronica have been joked about the same way.

Origin

In the Bible, Saint Veronica attended the crucifixion of Jesus Christ and as he carried the cross, she gave him a veil with which to wipe his brow. When he returned it, it is said his face miraculously appeared on the veil.^[1] Thus, in some classical art depictions of the crucifixion, Saint Veronica is present holding the veil with Jesus' face on it.

On December 4th, 2017, Twitter user @JamColley^[2] posted a photo of "The Carrying of the Cross" by Biagio d'Antonio, which hangs in The Louvre and features Saint Veronica holding the veil with Jesus' face on it, and joked, "shout out to this hustler who tried to sell merch at the crucifixion." The tweet gained over 24,000 retweets and 76,000 likes in six years (shown below).

Spread

After the tweet spread widely on social media, the joke was copied with other pieces depicting Saint Veronica, calling her the "hustler" at the crucifixion. Many of these happened in April 2022. For example, on April 17th, 2022, Redditor spunky2018 made the joke on the /r/funny^[3] subreddit, gaining over 610 points in nearly two years (shown below, left).

On April 12th, Redditor muan2012 then posted a slight variation of the original tweet to /r/fakehistoryporn,^[3] gaining over 16,600 points in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References