Look into my eyes: You will be assimilated

So, today some friends and I went to the National Gallery of Art and were very unsettled and, well, amused by a sculpture we encountered.

(You will need to click on it to view full size to see what I mean.)
So, seriously, what the fuck. Did the artist finish the masterpiece and think, "Hmmmm.... Sa'm'ting es missing..." (That's artsy speak, FYI - Most of my friends with were artists, they can vouch for this.) "Ah, o'course! Ze eyes! Zey haf no pupeels! Frederico! Vetch me ze black peint! ...An' another flagon of wine!"

And my goodness, look at the Baby Jesus. He's...Well... He doesn't quite look neither innocent nor child-like. I considered this on my extended ride home...I swear, it never fails that I will go the wrong way on the beltway every single time I try to traverse it... Naturally I spend my time pondering the Baby Jesus' likeness in art.

I surmised that perhaps the Baby Jesus' face was sculpted in the likeness of the Pope in that era. That makes sense considering how autocratic the Roman Catholic Church was at the time this sculpture was crafted. Face it, that baby has Pope written all over it.

I don't get the eyes though. I just can't see, the wealthy bourgeoisie who commissioned this, say that it looks great. So yeah, WTF.

Oh, I can't quite figure out the "thing" emerging from Baby Jesus' toga. Any ideas?