Hulme, Edward - Symbolism in Christian Art (1891)

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100091
THIO ILISTOKY IMllNUJl'LKS AND JM4AOTIOE
3YMJBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.

antiquarian Xfbran?,
1. MONUMENTAL BRASSES. By the Rev. HHRBEHT

W. MACKLIN, B.A., late Hon. Sec. Cambridge University
Association of Brass Collectors. With numerous Illustra-
tions. 3s. 6cL
2. THE HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND PRACTICE

OF SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART. By 1<\
EDWARD HULSIE, P.L.S., F.S.A. With numerous Illustra-

tions. 3. 6rf.
3. THE HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND PRACTICE

OF HERALDRY. By F. EDWARD HULME. F.L.S.,
With numerous Illustrations . 3*. (i<?.
[Other Volume* to follow.]

THE HISTOBY
PRINCIPLES AND PEACTICE
OF
* *
f T Y* /ÛY i*
iprtduttttt ttt wrotJttt

6 6
F. EDWARD HULMB, F.L.S., F.S.A.

Author of
" " 1
Pamfl/nr TFild n.ointrs," "Sit0ge*/,ioii8 lu floral Design," Wnyaifa Sfcfltclws/

"
'Hitorj/ Prmciplcs and Practice o/ HeraWri/," Kytli-lnwd," "-Art Jnstrnolion -in
rtiid," *'Prwwjij)lfl80/OniaflwiUal</lvt," etc,, etc.
LONDON
SWAN SONNENSCHKIN A CO.
PATERNOSTER SQUARE
1891
Bern, KB &
TUB SBVWOOD Pui
FKOatB, AITD
CONTENTS.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER II J
CHAPTER III 30
CHAPTER IV 47
CHAPTER V 73
CHAPTER VJ 101
CHAPTER VII 121
CHAPTER VIII 140
CHAPTER IX. . 107
CHAPTER X 14
CHAPTER XI 208
APPENDIX 223
THE
HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND PRACTICE

OF
SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER.
What a Symbol is Definitions of Symbol, Allegory, and Type Sym-
bolism reveals or conceals The Great Sources oi Symbolism
Classes of Symbol The same Form may mean two entirely dif-
ferent Things Abuse of Symbolism Parables The Writings of
DuraiKlus Extravagant Symbolism Symbolic Rites of the Jews
World-wide Use of Symbolism Arrangement of Subject in suc-
ceeding Chapters.
A svMUuij is n form that in itself may be trivial, barbarous,

or even repellent, but which nevertheless, from the associa-
tion connected with it, is the sign of something higher than
meets the outward eye. >Symbolic forms can never again
attain the importance they have done in the past. Their
study is nevertheless deeply interesting; for, grotesque and
quaint as they often are, we must remember that they were
but the outer shell, and often beneath a rugged exterior bore
a golden wealth of significance. To the artist and archaeo-
logist such study is indispensable. The field of inquiry is
so vast, both in space and time, that it is evident that an
exhaustive treatment is impossible we purpose then in the
;
present pages to do little more than deal with the subject in

its association with Christianity and its illustration in art.
Though the terms symbol, allegory, and type appear to be

ordinarily regarded as interchangeable, there is a difference
1!
of meaning and application. Symbolism employs real

objects, such as the lamb,
the cross, the crown, to illustrate
the truth. It is a picture language. Allegory uses fictitious
things and imaginary personages. Symbolism appeals to the
mind through the eye, is more or less artistic and pictorial ;
while allegory is more especially literary, and the picturesque

" "
treatment of such works as the Pilgrim's Progress or the
"Holy War" affords us very excellent examples of its scope.

A type is a something or somebody that prefigures some
in safety amidst
greater thing or person thus the ark riding
;
the waters of the deluge was a type of the Church of God.

As the thing that originally prefigures also afterwards repre-
sents,many of these typical forms have been pressed into the
service of symbolism.
The sculptured fonts or stained-glass windows in the
churches of the Middle Ages were full of teaching to a
congregation of whom the greater part could not read, to
whom therefore one great avenue of knowledge was closed.
The ignorant are especially impressed by pictorial teaching,
and grasp its meaning far more readily than they can follow
a written description or a spoken discourse. Henco the
1
clergy wisely supplemented their with thoso

discourses
appeals to the eye. But symbolism, though ordinarily n
very effective way of imparting instruction, has at times
been employed in an entirely opposite direction. Thus the
Egypt reserved to themselves an inner inejuwig to
priests of
many of their rites ; and thus too the early Christians em-
ployed symbols that, though full of significance to themselves,
conveyed no meaning to the heathen around them* Wo too
may at first see nothing but poverty of design and poorness
of execution in these rude and strange
imaginings hut when;
we recall how essential they once woro as "podges and

declarations of faith, they acquire a strong interest, uml wo
see through and beyond the visible and grasp
representation,
something of the great ideas veiled in these simple and ratio
forms.
1
Some few weeks before writing this we found ourBi'lvtw in a
church in Brighton. What the text was, what the sermon was, and
everything else concerning the service, we have utterly forxotttn Iwt w
;
viridl7 remember a fresco of the Last 8uppi r, ana poor, ilishommn'ii

j
Judas going forth into the outer darkness clutching at lite

bag. A whole
course of sermons embodied in one touching figure.
SOURCES OF EARLY SYMBOLIC FORMS. 3
Clement of Alexandria suggested to the Christians of his
day heathen subjects cut on stones and

that, in place of the
rings by the Roman lapidaries and metal workers, they
should have such devices as a dove, symbolic of the Holy
Spirit of God within them, the palm branch of victory, the
anchor, emblematic of their hope, and other devices of like
import. The strong expressions of Tertullian in his treatise,
"
De Idolol atria," are directed against the pagan rites, and in
his zeal against error he objects to all representations what-
soever,and stigmatises the art of the painter as an unlawful
thing; though he, in spite of his anxiety to prevent any
tampering with arts that had been perverted to the service
of heathendom, made exception in favour of the devices sug-
gested by Clement. The influences of the life around them
did in fact considerably affect early Christian art, Christ
Himself, the Good Shepherd, we shall see, was often repre-
sented as Orpheus while St. Paul finds in the Isthmian
;
Games apt illustration of the Christian race. St. John
Damascenus, writing in the eighth century, strongly defends

the introduction of sculpture and painting as accessories to
the teaching of the Church.
The great sources from whence our knowledge of Christian
symbolism is derived are, from the third to the eighth cen-
turies, the frescoes and sarcophagi in the catacombs, the
mosaics in the Italian churches, and the vessels of glass
or pottery found in tombs. Later on, for another three
hundred years or so, we find a rich store of illustrations in
the carved crosses or richly illuminated books of the Irish
and Anglo-Saxon scribes and, still later, the magnificent
;
manuscripts of the Middle Ages, the profusion of sculpture,

the glorious stained-glass windows, 1 the pavements of figured
tiles afford us numberless other examples.
Symbolic forms may be readily divided into three distinct

classes. The first of these comprises those that still survive,
and convey their meaning to us they have done
as clearly as
to preceding generations. The dove is a good illustration of
these, and it will ordinarily be found that such symbols are
" In her
oryall there shee was
Closyd wel with roial glas,
it was with ymagery
Fulfilled
Every window by and bye/'
SYMBOLISM /y CHRISTIAN ART.
based on some definite passage of the Bible. The second

class comprises forms that for some reason or other have
now wholly ceased to be employed, though their significance
is still understood. While a third and much smaller
clearly
class includes forms that from their associations arc clearly
symbolic, but of which all clue to their meaning is lost. It
is of course necessary to bring some little knowledge and
experience to bear
on the matter, as ifc does not certainly
follow that a thing is meaningless because it is so to us.
Many old legends and beliefs have now faded away but no;
one to whom the logend of the phoenix is unknown, to whom

the old belief in the pelican feeding its young with its own
blood is unfamiliar, is in a position to express- an opinion
as to their introduction in old work. A knowledge of such
superstitious beliefs,
and with the various legends that are
associated with the saints in the Church's calendaz', is as
needful to the duo appreciation of early art or modern re-
vivals of it as a knowledge of Greek and Roman mythology
is to those who would
desire to intelligently appreciate the
paintings on classic vases or the masterpieces of Greek

sculpture.
The student must moreover be warned that the points of
resemblance between the symbol and fhe tiling symbolised
must not bo pushed too far, nor too rigid a parallelism
exacted. Often therefore but one face of a many-sided
truth can be given. Thus our Saviour may be represented
as the Good Shepherd, the guardian of the iloek, and the
symbol is a just and beautiful one; but such a symbol gives

no suggestion of the fact that lie was also the Lamb without
spot or blemish, or that hereafter He will he the .1 u<lge in that
dread tribunal that closes the drama of this world's history.
A symbol too, we must remember, may niean two entirely
different and opposing things. Thus the lion may symbolise
the evil spirit walking about as a lion to devour his prey,
or the all-conquering Christ, the Lion of the tribe of Jmlali.
Our Lord too compared the kingdom of heaven in one of His
parables to leaven; yet elsewhere He spoke in au entirely
different sense of the leaven of the* Scribes and Pharisees.
While symbolic teaching is of great service, and a most
valuable means of imparting truth, it can, like most other
things, be carried to a point where it becomes forced and
almost ridiculous. Hence the abuse has been made an argti-
SYMBOLIC TEACHING, REAL AND UNREAL, 5
mezit against the use. Our Lord's teaching, while clear and
distinct, was clothed almost invariably in parabolic, figura-
tive, descriptive, allegorical, and symbolic form. Our duty to
our neighbour was not coldly set forth in a harsh, unbending
formula, a rigid and frigid command, but brought home
to us in the parable of the traveller who so sorely needed
and readily obtained compassion
so and every discourse was
;
lighted up and brightened by some picturesque allusion, the

pearl of great price, the lost and wandering sheep, the work-
ing leaven, the house founded upon a rock, the sower and
the seed, the labourers in the vineyard, the unjust judge, the
1
beautiful story of the prodigal son. The method of teaching
thus inaugurated by the Founder of the Church may well be
adopted by His followers.
At the same time, as we have already indicated, this sym-
bolic teaching has suffered at the hands of its too zealous
friends. There is perhaps no better illustration of this
" "
than the Rationale Divinorum Officiorum of Durandus,
a book on the symbolism of churches and church ornaments.
Durandus was chaplain to Pope Clement IV., afterwards cap-
tain of the Papal forces, and, finally, in the year 1286, became
" "
Bishop of Mende. The Rationale was the first book from
the pen of an uninspired author ever printed. Though it
passed through many editions, it is now of extreme rarity.
Durandus deals in his book with all the component parts
and details of a church, and finds in each and all an inner
meaning that, ingenious as it frequently is, is often, sadly
strained. We may give but one illustrative example of this,
the bell, to most of us a useful but pi'osaic thing enough.
"Bells do signify preachers, who ought after the likeness
of a bell to exhort the faithful the which was typified in
;
that the Lord commanded Moses to make a vestment for the

high priest, having seventy-two bells, to sound when the
high priest entered into the Holy of Holies. Also the cavity
of the bell denoteth the mouth of the preacher, according to
1
the saying of the apostle, I am become as sounding brass

*
or a tinkling cymbal.' The hardness of the metal signifieth
1 "
If man had been incorporeal, G-od would have given him purely
incorporeal gifts but since his soul is joined to a body, things supra-
;
sensible are ministered to him by means of sensible things." ST. JOHN

CHBYSOSTOM.
SYMBOLISM TN CHRISTIAN ART.
fortitude in themind of tie preacher; whence saith the Lord,

1
Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces.

4
The clapper or iron which, by striking on either side, maketh

the sound, doth denote the tongue of the teacher, the which
with the adornment of learning doth cause both testaments
to resound. The striking of the bell denotetli that the
the vices in himself
preacher ought first of all to strike at
for correction, and then advance to blame those of others.
The link by which the clapper is joined or bouiul unto the
bell is meditation. The wood of the frame upon which the
bell hangeth doth signify the wood of our Lord's cross. The
are the
pegs by which the wooden frame is joined together
oracles of the prophets. The iron cramps by which the bell
is joined with the frame denote charity, by which the
preacher being joined indissolubly unto the cross doth boast
and say, Grod forbid that I should glory, save in the cz-oss
(
'
of our Lord Jesus Christ The hammer affixed to the frame

!
by which the bell is struck signifieth the right mind of the

preacher,by which he himself holding fast to the Divine
commands doth by frequent striking inculcate the same on
the ears of the faithful."
While pictorial and sculptured forms have their undoubted
value as exponents of truth, we must not forgot tlmt there
is a possibility of such use degenerating into mere picture
worship, as may be very evidently seen in the adoration paid

by the Russian peasantry to their sacred pictures.
The use of symbol may be as well seen in the earliest art
of which we have knowledge as in any later period, the
sacred writing of the priests of Egypt being essentially of
this nature, Amongst the Jews again symbolism was one of
the most striking features; the Passover feast, ilu dismissal
k
into the wilderness of the scapegoat, the Feast of Tubornades,

the sabbatic year, were all in the highest degree
figurative,
while the Song of Solomon, and many others of the Jewish
writings are a mine of picturesque imagery. Canon "VWst-
"
cott, in his points out clearly how
Christus Consummate!*,"
the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews " dwells with" reve-
rent memory on the significance of the ritnal which lie had
known and then he shows how to the Christian every sym-
;
bol had become a truth, every shadow a WriWs

reality."
have noticed especially in the Epistle io the Hebrews, the
"
repeated employment of the word true/' showing over am?
VARIOUS FORMS OF SYMBOLISM.
over again that in the fulfilment we have the reality of which

in the Jewish
dispensation there was hut the shadow. The
prohibition in the Jewish religion against the representation
of the Deity or of any living thing to a great extent pre-
vented the use of symbolic forms, a prohibition that we also
find in full force amongst the followers of Muhammad.
Where no such religious restriction is exercised, the love
of symbolism has shown itself almost universally, from the
cultured Greek, the learned* priesthood of the valley of the
Nile, or the followers of Hinduism, to the North American
nomad Indians, or the dwellers in the mysterious cities of
ancient Mexico and Peru. It is equally at home on a
Japanese lacquer tray, in the carvings of a Celtic cross,

the rich mosaic pavements of an old Roman villa, or in the
wealth of sculpture of our grand cathedrals.
Having, we trust, demonstrated the importance of the
study, we now indicate, in concluding our introductory
remarks, the course we propose to pursue; for "whosoever
shall address himself to write of Matters of Instruction,
or of any other Argument of Importance, it behoveth that,
before he enter therein, he should resolutely determine with
himself in what Order he will handle the same, so shall he
best accomplish that he hath undertaken, and inform the
*
Understanding, and help the Memory of the Reader."
Symbolism may manifest itself in several ways for though ;
our thoughts naturally turn in the first place to symbolism of

form, there may be, equally, symbolism of language, of action,
of number, or of colour. Having briefly dwelt upon these
points, we propose to deal more especially with symbolic
forms as we meet with them in art, in the works of the
painter or the sculptor, the embroiderer or the glass painter,
burnt into flooring tiles, woven into hangings, stamped upon
coins, or whatever other possibilities of production yet
remain unspecified.
The symbols associated collectively and individually with
the three Persons of the Trinity will first engage our atten-
tion, then the cross and passion symbols associated with the
1 "
A display of Heraldry manifesting a more easie access to the
Knowledge thereof than hath hitherto been published by any, through
the benefit of Method wherennto it is now reduced by the Study and
;
Industry of John Quillim" (extract from the preface of the edition of 1679.)
8 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN' ART.
earthly life and sacrifice of our Lord. These in turn -will

suggest a consideration of the ordinary emblems of mortality.
After this we may very naturally dwell for awhile on the
representation in art of the human soul and of angels, good
and bad, of heaven and hell, the apostles and saints of God,
the dragon and the sevpent, symbols of evil. We shall then
proceed to refer to the emblems of authority, such as the
crown, mitre, sceptre, orb, and staff. The various forms
derived from the animal kingdom will be followed by those
based on flowers. Various symbolic forms again are founded
on the sun, the moon, and the starzy host of heaven. Geo-
metrical forms must not be overlooked; and the sea too
will contribute its quota in such maritime forms as the
ship, the trident, the shell, and the tish. Even stones have
their associations while we shall require to deul also with
;
a large section of objects, such as instruments of martyr-

dom, the gridiron of St. Lawrence, or the wheel of St.
Catherine, that almost defy classification in any formal way.
CHAPTER II.
Symbolism of Language Symbolism of Action Of NumberThe

Number of Perfection The great Councils of the Early Church
The Number of Probation Symbolism of Colour White Ponti-
Value of old Church Inventories " Les
fical of Bishop Clifford
Couleurs Liturgiques" of Malais Heraldic Symbolism of Colours
Old Authors thereupon Great divergence of Use in various
Dioceses Illustrations of this Yellow Colour used sometimes
in Good, sometimes in Bad Sense Golden Vestments Bed Early
Christian Art The Colour-sense of the Ancients Scarlet Crim-
son Green Blue Political Colours Purple Violet Gray or
Ash-coloured Black.
SYMBOLISM may be of language. This imagery of diction is

especially characteristic of savage and semi-civilized peoples,
though by no means confined to them. The oratory of the
.New Zealanders or of the Itforth American Indians owes
much of its force and beauty to this symbolism of language,
and it is a very marked feature in the literature and daily
speech of many of the Eastern races. Thus, amidst the
decoration of the Alhambra, we find entwined a great variety
"
of laudatory inscriptions, such as the following : Thou hast
risen in the horizon of empire like the sun in the vault of
heaven, mercifully to dissipate the shadows of injustice and
oppression. Thou hast secured even the tender branches
from harm and tho breath of the summer gale." Biblical
"
examples may also very readily be found As the apple :
tree among the trees of the wood, so is niy beloved. I sat

down tinder his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was
sweet to my taste." We may instance also the blessing
given to Jacob, "With corn and wine have I sustained him":
corn, the source of the staff of life, and wine to make glad
the heart of man, being selected as symbolising the general
material and temporal prosperity which the expression was
meant to convey. The proverbs that are found in. the lite-
ro SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
rature and speech of almost all races of men are a further

1
illustration of this delight in a picture-language,
Symbolism may be of action. It may be seen in the smok-

the war hatchet
ing of the pipe of peace and the burial of
amongst the Sioux, in the passing round of the loving cup
at the banquets of the city magnates. The rites of the
2
Levitical priesthood afford many examples. The Arab
custom of tasting salt with one's guest is a binding symbol
of amity thereby established and many other illustrations
;
will readily occur to our readers.
FIG. 1.
Symbolism may be of number, Examples of this section,

though frequently to be encountered, often escape notice, as
they do not so clearly and immediately reveal their meaning
as some other forms of symbolic treatment do, Threefold
arrangements, such as a three-light window, a trefoil, or
triangle, ordinarily symbolise the Trinity when found in
Christian art. Pythagoras calls three the number of com-
pletion,expressive of beginning, middle, and end. The
number was a favourite one in classic mythology, where wo
meet with the throe-headed Cerberus, the three Fates, flu*
three Furies, the three Graces, while the Mtises are three
times three in number. The wise men, or kings, or ^lagi,
who followed the guiding star to Bethlehem were three in
As for example :
1
111weeds grow apace."
1
1
The scalded dog fears cold water/
1
There is a silver lining to every cloud."
(
, Birds of a foather flock together."
1
Where bees are, there is honey."
One sword keeps another in its scabbard."
'
2
Other good Biblical examples will be found in Isa. xx. 2, 3> 4 in ;
seq., xxi. C et sey. ; and in Amos vii, 7

iv. 1 et seq., xii. 3 et
THE NUMBER OF PERFECTION. II
number, according to generally accepted tradition. In fig. 1,

the reverse of an early medal, we have a representation of
the visit of the Magi, three in number, to the infant Christ.
While we must be careful not to read meanings where
they were never meant or intended, the number four will
ordinarily in Christian art represent the evangelists ;
while
PIG. 2.
six stands for the attributes of Deity, power, majesty, wis-

dom, love, mercy, justice.
Seven has by old writers been called the number of per-
fection, and it is curious to notice how often this idea seems
to be involved in its use. Thus to quote some few repre-
sentative examples out of many Balaam, as an effectual test
:
of the will of God, built seven altars and prepared seven

12 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
Job, referring to the

1
oxen and seven rams for sacrifice.

u
effectual protection of Providence, says, In seven troubles
"
there shall no evil touch thee "; and again, Wisdom hath
hewn her seven Jacob, as a sign of perfect sub-
pillars."
mission, bowed himself seven times before his brother. The
sevenfold circuit of Jericho prior to complete overthrow
its
is another example. Naaman was commanded to bathe

seven times in the Jordan as a prelude to his complete
restoration to health. Samson for full security was bound
with seven bands. The Jewish Church has seven great holy
days in each year. The Romish Church has seven sacra-
ments. On the first appointment of deacons in the early
Christian Church seven men of honest report were to be
"
chosen. How my brother sin against me, and I
oft shall
"
forgive him The question suggested seven times as the
?
limit of endurance of wrong. The golden candlestick of the

Jewish temple was seven-branched. 1 It is represented in
fig.
a portion of one of the sculptured panels on the
2,
triumphal arch of Titus at Rome. The great apocalyptic

angels are seven in number; and Ephesus, Smyrna, Pergamos,
Thyatira, Sardis, Philadelphia, Laodoeea were the seven
Churches of Asia! In the same book we read oi: seven candle-
sticks,seven stars, seven trumpets, the seven spirits before
the throne of God. Pharaoh in his dream saw seven oxen
and seven ears of com. On the- seventh day of the seventh
month a holy observance was ordained to the children of
Israel, who feasted seven days and remained seven days in
tents. The seventh year was to be observed as a Sabbath,
and at the end of the seven times seven came the great year
of Jubilee.
When we shall, later on, deal with the attributes of tho
Trinity, mention must be made of the sevenfold gifts of tho
Holy Spirit. At the creation of the world the seventh period

marked its completion. Psalms vi., xxxii., xxxviii., li., cii.,
oxxx., cxliii., are those known as the seven penitential psalms
1
In the Talmud we read that over tho throne of kin Solomon hun a
chandelier of gold with seven branches, and on those tho names of tho
seven patriarchs, Adam, Noah, Bhena, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, and Job,
were engraven. On the second row of the branches were engraved the
names of the " seven pious ones of the world "
Levi, Keliatti, Arnram,
;
Moses, Aaron, Eldad, and Medad.

THE NUMBER OF PERFECTION. 13
from their especially contrite character. There are also

seven deadly sins. The seven joys and the seven sorrows
of the Virgin mother are frequently represented in the art
of the Middle Ages. The first series comprises the Annun-
ciation, the Visitation, the Nativity, the Adoration of the
kings, the Presentation in the temple, the Finding of Christ
among the doctors in the temple, the Assumption. The
seven sorrows are the prophecy of Simeon, the flight into
Egypt, Christ missed in the temple, the betrayal of her Son,
the Crucifixion, the Deposition from the Cross, and the
Ascension.
There were also seven great councils of the early Church 1 ;
while in the Roman Catholic service of consecration of a

church, the altar is sprinked seven times in remembrance of
the Lord's Passion and the seven outpourings of His sacred
"
blood. The first whereof was at circumcision the second,
;
in prayer in the garden the third, at the scourging the

; ;
fourth, from the crown of thorns the fifth, from the pierced
;
hands the sixth, when His feet were nailed to the cross
; ;
the seventh, when His side was wounded by the spear."

There are in addition the seven champions of Christen-
dom j
St. George of England, St, Andrew of Scotland, St.
David of Wales, St. Patrick of Ireland, St, James of Spain,
St. of France, and St. Anthony of Italy.
Denys
We
read too of the seven wonders of the ancient world.
As a matter of fact there were eight, but in any list there
2
is an "or," and not an "and," where they are enumerated.
This verbal difference may seem trifling but while the use
j
1
The oecumenical synod at Nicroa, under Constantine the Great
first
in the year against the errors of Arius. The second at Constan-

3*25,
tinople, under Theodosius the Great in the year 381, against the heresy
of Macedonius in denying the Divinity of the Holy Spirit. The third
at Ephesus, under Theodosius in 431, against Nestorius. The fourth at
Chalcedon, under Marcian in 451, against Eutyches and Dioscuros, who
asserted that there was only one nature in Christ. The fifth at Con-
stantinople, under Justinian in 553, against Origen. The sixth at Con-
stantinople also, under Constantine Pogonatus in 680, against Honorius,
Sergius, and Pyrrhus ; and the seventh at Nicaea, under Coustantine and
Irene in the year 787, against the Iconoclasts.
2
The pyramids of Egypt the hanging gardens of Babylon the tomb
; ;
of Mausolus the temple of Diana at Ephesus the statue of Zeus by

j ;
Phidias, the Colossus of Bhddes, the Pharos of Egypt or the temple

of Cyrus.
of the latter word would make the total eight, the nso of
the former sacrifices one on the list to the desire to bring 1
the total to the mystic number of perfection. have also We

the seven wise men of Greece, while Shakespeare gives us
the seven ages of man, from pnling infancy to decrepit old
age.
The Hindus believe in. seven mansions of all created
spirits,
the earth being the lowest of these, while the seventh
and highest is the seat of Brahma. The Moslem pilgrimage
is at last consummated when seven circuits have been made
round the sacred stone at Mecca. The astronomers tell us

of seven greater planets, the alchemists dealt with seven
metals, and we all of us recognise seven days in each week.
1
With our forefathers the period of apprentice-si tip was seven

years, and Jacob for the love he bore to Rachel was willing,
in the old world story, to serve Laban for as long. The lease
of a house is often for seven, fourteen, or
twenty-one years;
and when we desire to give a rogue his deserts* he goes off
to penal servitude for a like period. In the eyes of the law
the stripling enters into manhood, with its contingent rights
of sueing and being sued, paying his own debts, and
serving
on a jury, when three times seven years have gone over hi,s
head while the tenth seven marks the natural
;
period and
duration ofhuman life.
the number of regeneration, hence
is
Eight by far the
greater number of the old fonts and
baptistries arc octagonal.
Twelve, the number of the apostles, has naturally been a
somewhat favourite number in art symbolism, lu*incr
applied
not merely in this more limited sense, but also in a more
extended meaning, as representative of the Church
generally.
As an example of the mystical meanings often attached to
numbers we may quote the words of St. Augustine where,
after referring to the passage in St. Pan), "
What, know ye
not that the saints shall judge the world H" and
explaining
that the twelve thrones
represent the twelve
"
he apostles,
goes on to say The parts of the world are four; the oast,
:
the west, the north, and the south. From these

four, saith
1 "
The bodies seven, eefc, to Lf*m hear anoon :
Sol gold is, and Luna silver wo

thrapt* ;
Mare yren, Mercuric qnyhflilver \vo
olfpe ;
Saturnus leed, and Jubilcr is tjn,

And Venus coper, by my fader'kyn." CHACCKH,
THE NUMBER OF PROBATION 15
the Lord in the gospel, shall the elect be gathered together.

Called, and how? By the Trinity. Not called except by
baptism in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the
Holy Ghost so four parts each called by the Three make
;
twelve."
Nine as a number scarcely appears in Christian art, though
Milton writes that the gates of Hell are thrice threefold,
three of brass, three of iron, three of adamantine rock, and
tells us that when the fallen angels were expelled from
heaven "nine days they fell." A
sense of completion has
been associated with the number. There were nine Muses.
"
In the Lays of Ancient Rome," it will be remembered that
Lars Porsenna swears by the nine gods while in our own ;
experience we stillsee leases granted for ninety-nine years.

We have been taught that it takes nine tailors to make a
man ;
that a cat's tenacity of life
is
equal to nine times that
of other animals that possession is nine points of the law;
;
that if we we want to make the flogging of our burglar

effectual and complete, the cat-o'-nine-tails must be brought
out; while we can pay the hero of the banquet no higher
compliment than to toast him with three times three. The
witches in "Macbeth" for the effectual working of the
charm sing around the caldron
" Thrice to thine and thrice to mine

And thrice again, to make up nine."
The fcen petals of the passion flower represent the apostles

in the mystical meanings that have been associated with the
flower, since among the twelve one betrayed and one denied
his Lord.
The number forty is expressive of a period of probation or
trial. The Israelites wandered forty years in the wilderness,
and forty years of bondage they also had to serve under the
hard yoke of the Philistines. Moses was forty days on the
mount of Sinai. Elijah was in hiding forty days. For forty
days the deluge fell, and for yet another forty days Noah
was shut within the ark. The men of Nineveh had a like
period of probation under the preaching of Jonah. The
fasting of our Lord in the wilderness again was for forty
days. Our readers will remember too that St. Swithin's
Day is still anxiously looked for by many who believe that
r6 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
a very possible forty days of wet weather is in store for them

l
;
while many old legal observances were based on this number,

such as the privilege of sanctuary, the duration of quaran-
tine, and so forth.
We pass now to a consideration of the influence of colour,
that have been assigned to thc various
k
and of tie meanings

tints employed,
White has ever been accepted as symbolic of innocence of
of life. 2 Hence the
soul, of purity of thought, of holiness
of the great divinity Osiris were robed in white, and
priests
thus too were the priests of Zeus. The ministers on the
worship of Brahma, and the initiated in the Druidic rites,
like the Vestal Virgins, wore robes of the same spotless Ime.
When the sins that are as scarlet shall have been made us
the untrodden snow, that soul shall stand amidst the great
army of the redeemed, clothed in stainless gai'b of white.
Hence in the early ages of the Christian Church those
admitted into its fellowship wore white garments. Ju
2 Chronicles v. 12 we road that the Lcvites at the dedi-
"
cation of Solomon's temple were arrayed in white linen."
At the transfiguration, of Christ "His garment," St.
3
Matthew tells us, "was white as the light,'' while tin*
"
angel at the tomb of the Saviour was clothed in raiment
1 " Now if on Swithun's clay the welkin lours,

And every penthouse streams with hasty showers,
Twice twenty days shall clouds their flei'Ci'S drain,
And wash tlio pavement with incessant rain.
Let not such vulgar tales debase thy mind,
Nor Paul nor Switliuu rule the clouds and wind." (JAY*
The French have a very similar belief :
" S'il pleut lo jour de Saint Medard,

II pleut quaranto jours
plus tard ;
S'il pleut le jour de Saint Gervais et de Saint Protais
II pleut quarante jours aprea."
2 Thus
Cyprian during the Decian persecution wrote to the Church at
"
Carthage Happy is our Church, illumined with w I'Uvmo a plory, mid
:
ennobled in our day by the blood of the martyr*. She was before* whito
with the purity of her children, now slie lias found a robe of purplo in
their blood."
*'/Ee was transfigured before them. And His raiment became

shining, exceeding white as snow ; so as no fuller on earth can
them "(St. Mark ix.
2,3).
SYMBOLIC USE OF WHITE.
white as snow." The Apocalypse yields several illustra-

tive texts of a like nature.
In the Pontifical of Bishop Clifford, Bishop of London
"
from 1406 to 1426, we read, Albus color inter omnes colores
est prior pnrior, simplicior, et festivior." St. Jerome speaks
of bishops, priests, and deacons being arrayed in white
in his time, and the white surplice of the clergy is as
marked a feature to the present day. It is used at all
Feasts and at all seasons relating to the Lord that are not
associated with suffering such as the Annunciation, Pre-
;
sentation in the temple, Epiphany, and Easter. It is also

associated with the blessed Virgin and to those saints who
1
were not also martyrs ;

used too at dedication and harvest
2
festivals, at confirmations, and at weddings.
In the Middle Ages white was the general Lenten colour;
not from its association however with the idea of rejoicing
or of purity. Its use probably arose from the custom of
covering the altars, reredoses, etc., during Lent with white

cloths, as signifying the absence or veiling of all colour;
and thus regarded, its use during Lent is neither unseemly
nor inconsistent. Later on the original meaning was not so
1
At the coronation the royal robes were of white satin,
of Charles I.
The previous sovereigns had always been

attired in purple ; but Charles
being crowned on the Feast of the Purification, deliberately elected to be
robed in white in honour of the feast day and " to declare the virgin
purity with which, he came to be espoused to his kingdom." This he
did, notwithstanding a very threatening prophecy, popularly attributed
to Merlin, of the disasters of all kinds that would attend the coming of a
" White "
King to the throne of England. Herbert records that at the
" the
king's funeral sky was serene and clear ; but presently it began to
snow, and fell so fast, as by that time they came to the West end of
the Eoyal Chapell the black velvet pall was all white (the colour of
Innocency),' being thick covered over with Snow, So went the White
King to his grave."
2
In a very good French work, "Les Coulenrs Liturgiques," by the
Abbe" Malais, we find the following passages that bear upon, and further
illustrate, our subject.
'*
On voit tout de suite que le Wane caracterise
la joie et la purete
;
la joie a, Noel, a. Paques, par exemple, et la purete
aux des vierges." " Les
fe'tes Bapt&nes, les Manages, les Funerailles
des petits enfants, la D&Ucace des Eglises, TAnniversaire de cette
DSdicace, les Ceiemonies d'actions de graces comportent a pep pre"s
universellement la couleur blanche." "La f6te de tous les Saints, &
cause de la grande joie qu'elle respire, a la vue de tant de bienbeureux,
nos protecteurs et nos modeles, est assez g6u6ralmeiit celebr6e avec la
couleur blanche."
i8 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
and instead of the plain linen covering,

strictly regarded,
silk and other rich materials were introduced, and both vest-
ment and altar covering became embroidered or painted with
symbols of the Passion.
The old church inventories supply us with many excellent
illustrations of this use. Thus, for example, at St. Cuth-
u
bert's, Wells, in the year ]393,
we find in use one white
cloth for hanging in time of Lent."
At St. Nicholas', Bristol,
wyzht w* crucyfyx for leynt." At
8
A.D. 1432, "viij clot of
"
St, Margaret's, Southwark, 1485, iiij whyte
frontelles with
"
Red crosses for Lente seson and at Westminster Abbey in
;
"
1540, a white clothe of sylk with a red crossi* servying for
Lent." 1 The white hangings were exchanged for red during
the last fortnight of Lent while Good Friday varied from
;
red, through purple and violet, to black.

Several portraits of Mary Queen of Scots are extant in
which she is depicted as wearing white for mourning on
account of the death of her first husband, Francis II. of

France. The custom was by no moans rare at that period.
u
Elizabeth of England is recorded as wearing Lo Deuil
blanc" for example, and several other instances could be
cited. In China it is invariably the colour of mounting. At
funerals the chief mourners wear robes of white, while
friends don a sash of white in lieu of our crape trimming.
The visiting cards usedmust be of white in place of the
ordinary crimson. After a while salmon-coloured curds ure
substituted, then those of a deeper red, till ultimately the
deep crimson cards are resumed. Any letter sent or received
during this period of mourning must be upon white paper.
It has been held that the symbolic colours used in the
Middle Ages in the services and adornment of the church
were based ou those used in tho temple sen-ire in the vest-
ments of the high priest and the hangings of the sanctuary
under the Jewish dispensation, and that the liturgical colours
of the mediaeval Church would naturally be allied to the
Levitical; but the facts are altogether against this theory*
In the early Christian Church the rites were celebrated in
a vesture that only differed from that of e ray-day life from
1
The whole subject, together "with very numerous rrforencfB to those
old inventories, will be fouud very ably and thoroughly worked out iu
W. St. Jblm Hope's treatise " On the English Liturgical Colours. 11
AUTHORITIES ON COLOUR SYMBOLISM. 19
itsgreater costliness and richness of quality. Even as early

as the tenth century certain colours were associated with
particular days, and were ascribed with liturgical authority

and significance. In the Greek Church, according to the
" "
Enchologion of Goar, published at Paris in the year
1647, only two colours were in use, purple for the Lenten
and other fasting days, and white for all other occasions.
Amongst the Armenians there are no special colours in use;
while in the Churches of the West where such symbolic
vestments are in service there is a great diversity of custom.
Had the colours been handed down from the temple obser-
vances we should have found Christian Churches prob-
all
ably equally ready to employ them, and there would have

been no divergence in the use from the old standard.
It has been fancifully and poetically pointed out that if
every virtue has its own colour, white, the colour of' light,
being produced by the blending of all the tints in the spec-
trum, may with peculiar appropriateness be employed as a
symbol of the union of every virtue. Whatever poetic- idea
however we may read into old observance, we must carefully
distinguish between historic fact and ingenious afterthought;
and there is no doubt that the grand
discovery of Newton
was not at the service of the medieval ecclesiastics.
The old writers on heraldry often delighted to throw a
glamour of symbolism over their science; hence we find
Guiilim, for example, writing, "The colour White is- re-

sembled to the Light, and the Dignity thereof reckoned
more worthy by how much the more the Light and the
Day is of more Esteem than Darkness and the Night."
The subject, from the heraldic point of view, may be very
"
well studied in La vraye et parfaite Science dos Armoires,"
published at Dijon in the year 1660. Other curious old
"
authorities on the symbolism of colours are Krausen's Dis-
sertatio de Colore Sacro, speciatim Vestibus Sacerdotalis,"
published at Wittemberg in 1?Q7, and the book of Innocent

III., entitled "De Sacro Altaris Mysterio." This is the
pope, it will be remembered, that king John was so unfor-
tunate as to differ in opinion from, and his book is the
earliest on the subject, dating from the year 1198.
It is somewhat curious, symbolism of colours being onco
recognised in the Western Churches, to find such a diver-

gence of custom, as it might naturally be supposed that
20 SYMBOLISM 2N CHRISTIAN ART.
some and binding ordinance on flic point, some pre-

definite
would hare been forthcoming. Directly
cise code of rules,
however we look into the matter and refer to the "uses"
of the various dioceses, we are struck with the difference
in practice. Thus while white is held to he the appropriate
colour for Trinity Sunday in Rome, Milan, Troves, Sens,

AuxeiTO, Rouen, and Lyons, we find green in use ILL Rhehna
and Exeter, yellow at Poictiers, blue at Toledo, violet at
Soissons, red at Laon, Coutance, Wells, and Cologne. All
these colours have their legitimate and appropriate meaning
white, for instance, typifying the spotless dignity of the
Godhead, while the violet, very sparingly found, characterizes
l
the obscurity of the mystery of the Divine Trinity ;
but the
divergence from uniformity is striking.

Yellow is comparatively but seldom met with. It is a
good example of the fact the student in eolnnr symbolism

must by no means overlook, that a colour may ho employed
either in a good or a bad sense, ami it is therefore often
necessary to judge from the surroundings before we uro uhle

to assign a definite meaning to any colour. In France,
during the sixteenth century, the doors of felons ami traitors

were painted yellow; and in some countries the Jews were
required to wear yellow, because they denied the Messiah.
It is the colour of jealousy and treason, and .Judas is often
L>
represented in old glass painting in a yellow robe. Where
1 "
Quant ft la fOtc du Saint-Sacreuaent bwineotip tVFjiliKirs Tout ct'iO-
bvee aveo des oruenieiits blanks, siîio de joh'ct tlt'imivtêonmit* Kouezi,
Bayeux, Coutances, Mete, et Beauvais; nmis fintml nowbre d'autrvtf
dioctaes out fait usage do rungc, souvenir du KSIU# Kdr la l*ussi u
du Seigneur, a savoir Evreux, Paris, Clmrtrs, Mwuix, ViTwiillw, Lo
:
Mans, Soispons, Amioiis, Cambrai, Toul, ct Laon. Ponr Auxt-nt' le

missel ne dfisigne que los orueniont Ivs )>lus prtVieux. KIUIK inditjUer
aucunc couluur particuliOro." MALAW, ** LfB Cotil^nrn Uturpqur**,"
2
Jn " Much Ado about Nothing" the count is di'suriU'd us u civil a^
an orange, aud RomothiuR of that jealous eomplfxitm." In 4v Twelfth
"
wo read of one who " 1
Night pined in thought' and \va utlliott'd with
14 " "
green and yellow melancholy while iu the ** Mvrry Vl'ivt'suf Windsor
;
Nym declares that ho \viJl i>Oi>flOBS 1'ord u with y'llmvm ss." \V< an*
i
all fanjiliar too with the

diqmraKiiiR and fuult-iiiulii.g
ulii.g naturo
nat that ia
involved in the idea of the " janndicod ey."
"
All seems infected that the fafeetnl
:>i>y,
As all seems yellow to the jaundiced eyu.' 1
Esây on Criticism."*
THE USE OF GOLD AND OF RED. 21
however it is represented by gold, or is a substitute for

it, it signifies love, constancy, dignity, wisdom ;
thus one of
the early Fathers of the Church was
called Chrysostom, the-
"
golden mouth, from his eloquence and wisdom. This,
colour in Arms is blazed by the name of Or, which is as
much Aurum, which is Gold. Ifc doth lively repre-

as to say
sent that most excellent Metal, the possession whereof en-
chanteth the Heart of Fools, and the Colour whereof blindeth
the Eyes of the Wise. Such
is the Worthiness of this Colour,
which doth resemble that none ought to bear the same in

it,
arms but Emperors and Kings, and such as be of the Blood

Royal. And as this Mefcal exceedeth all others in Yalue,
Purity, and Fineness, so ought the Bearer (as much as in
him lies) to endeavour to surpass all other in Prowess and
Virtue."
We are told by Vemus that Tarcpinins Priscus wore a
tunic of gold, and we read too that Agrippina, the wife of
the emperor Claudius, had a robe made entirely of woven
gold. When the tomb of the wife of the emperor Honorius
was opened in the year 1544 the golden tissue that had
enwrapped her was still intact, though she was interred in
the year 400 and when the foundations for St, Peter's at
;
Rome were being excavated, the workmen came upon the

marble sarcophagus of an illustrious Roman, Probus Anicius,
and his wife, each of whose bodies was encircled in a robe
woven of pure gold. Another regal association, and one
more familiar, will be found in the Field of the Cloth of
Gold. Biblical illustrations of its use as a symbol of royalty
and power are abundant, as for instance when king Bel-
shazzar bestowed a chain of gold upon Daniel and made him
third ruler in his kingdom, and when the king of Hamath
sent an embassy to salute king David', and presented his
brother ruler with vessels of gold.
Red, as applied to spiritual virtues, signifies an ardent
love, a burning zeal for the faith; in mundane virtues,
energy and courage; in an evil sense, cruelty and blood-
guiltiness. It is used on the feasts of martyrs and at
Whitsuntide. In the former case it speaks of the blood
which was shed for Christ, and in the latter of the tongues
of fire which descended upon the apostles. Hence, in the
inventory of Westminster Abbey, of the year 1388, we find
'*
albse riibesa pro Commemoratione Apostolorum," and in that
22 SYMBOLISM W CHRISTIAN ART.
"
drawn up about the year 1540 an albe of Rjlk with parella
of red nedyll work, etc., servyng for the chaunter at ye feast
of Seynt Peter." In the pontifical of Bishop Clifford^ we
find the various colours referred to, and the several occasions
when they are to be used; and it is there stated, "Rnbeus
color igneus est et sanguineus : caritati Spiritus et effusioni
*
sanguinis consimiiis."
The Good Friday colours we have seen havo varied from
red through purple or violet to black, Iwt the majority of
the old inventories give red or purple. Thus, in the list of
vestments made
in the year 1432 at St. Nicholas', Bristol,
" We
we find rede chysypull for gode frydav."
j
find also
u
in the inventory of Peterborough Abbey, A.D. 1531), red
albes for passion week."
In the catacombs of Rome many of the paintings are
evidently portraits of the persons buried there* Of these,
several very interesting examples may be seen in the National
Gallery. ordinarily accompanied by paintings of

They are
scriptural subjects or by symbols indicative of the faith of
the deceased, who is usually attired in a flowing dress closely
resembling surplice and stole. The surplice is either white,
the symbol of the purified soul, or red, as washed in the
blood of Christ and the stole is the symbol of the yoke of
;
Christ, borne over the shoulders.

"
According to Gaillim, heraldically rod representoth fire,
which is the chiefest, lightsomest, and clearest of the Ele-
ments. This colour incitoth courage and magnanimity in
1'
persons that do grapple together in single or publick ii^hh

We read that those that " strengthened their battels with
Elephants, when they would provoke them to fight, produced
before them resemblances of this martial colour, as the blood
2
of Grapes and of Mulberries," an analogous proceeding
1
Malais again refers to its use in the foil ovrinp passage; "L'uaage
de la couleur rouge & la veille et a la f6te de la PeuteeMe, jour *olemul
auquel Saint Esprit descendit sur les apotres eu forma de langueti en*
le
fiamme'es. Tons lea offices dirige"s sp6oialnient vers le ctilte <Ie
rBKprit
divin, comine le Sacrement de Confirmation, vculent cette couleur vive efc
6clatante."
* This idea is
clearly based on the thirty-fourth vowe in the sixth
"
chapter of the first book of Maccabees : And to the end tiiat they mijrht
provoke the elephants to fight, they showed them the blood of* grapes
and mulberries."
VAGUENESS OF ANCIENT COLOUR NAMES. 23
apparently to waving a red flag at a bull. The colour has

a curiously exciting effect on various animals. It is a sure
provocative of the grotesque ire of the turkey-cock, and we
remember an old man in the country who supplied adders'
fat as a rustic remedy, who used to angle successfully for
his game amongst the heath and furze with rod and line,
having a piece of scarlet cloth attached.
Whatever the ceremonial colour of the day may be, the
Pope when he hears mass is vested in red, and at his death
he is clothed in the same colour while we need scarcely
;
remind our readers that it is also the colour of the cardinal's

robes and hat. Our familiar phrase, "a red letter day," a
day of good fortune and happiness, refers to the old custom
of printing the saints' days in red ink. On the other hand,
the red flag is the symbol of insurrection and terrorism.
"
In China five symbolical colours are employed. Red is
appointed to fire, and corresponds with the south; black
belongs to water, and corresponds with the north green ;
belongs to wood, and signifies the east white to metal, and

;
refers to the mist," says the commentator Li-ki. Yellow is

apportioned to the earth. What led to this division of colours
seems scarcely clear in some of the cases but it is known
;
to have been in force over a thousand years before the Chris-

tian era, so that it has at least antiquity in its favour. Red
holds a conspicuous place in the Chinese marriage ceremony.
The term red is after all somewhat vague, and includes
two colours so far distinct as scarlet and crimson. It is
often difficult to determine what the ancient colours were,
partly from our inability to decide what such terms as pur-
pureus, hyacinthus, and coccineus conveyed to those who
used'them, and partly on account of the changeful effect of
time on paintings, embroideries, and the like. It has been
suggested that the ancients had either a very limited colour
vocabulary or were absolutely less gifted with a sense of
colour, or else we should scarcely find, as we do, one word,
purpurem, doing duty as descriptive of the colour of the sea,
of the sunrise, of the poppy flower, of the fruit of the fig,
of the human hair, of blood, and many other things. It is
also shown by Dr. Wickham Legg in his excellent work on
"The History of the Liturgical Colours," that the same
ignorance prevails as to the value of the medi&val words
rubeus, llodius^ and others. It will be noted that St, Mat-
thew says that the soldiers in mockery placed on Christ a

scarlet robe, while St, John calls it purple.
Scarlet is ordinarily found in the Bible as a symbol and
sign ofhonour and prosperity. It entered largely into the
adornment of the tabernacle. The daughters of Israel are
"
mentioned in 2 Samuel i. 24 as clothed in scarlet, with
other delights," The ideally good wife of the last chapter
"
of Proverbs has her household clothed with scarlet," and
the merchandise of the great city mentioned in Revelation
xviii. 12 included "gold and silver and precious stones,
I
pearls, fine linen, purple, and silk,
and scarlet."
In ecclesiastical and other decorative work we ordinarily
meet with crimson as the red employed, rather than scarlet,
the latter being too crude and garish. Thus to give but one
example out of many, we find in the inventories of West-
" 2 for
minster a cope, a chezabull, etc., of crymsyn serving
Palme Sonday."
Green, the characteristic colour of the Springtime, when
allNature appears to revive again, and in the bursting buds
and blossoms gives rich promise of future fruit Fulness, is
naturally associated with hope. Hence, while the Easter
ecclesiastical colour is almost everywhere white, as for
'
example, at Salisbury, Paris, Toledo, Cologne, and Milan,

u
at Soissons Cathedral we find it replaced by green. The
Latins call it viridis," saith an old author, "in regard of
the strength, freshness, and liveliness thereof ; and therefore

it best resembleth
youth, in that most vegetables long m
1
There is considerable question amongst commentators as to what
the biblical colours were, and we must not necessarily conclude that the
scarlet of the Bible is the same thing as the scarlet of a Life Guard's
tunic. The word rendered scarlet is in the original tola, u word signify-
ing a worm. Besides the dyes produced from the murex, a crimaon or
scarlet was in ancient times derived from an insect allied to the cochi-
neal, and called by the Arabs the kermet (hence our modern word car-
mine) ; and it is highly probable that this would be the source of the
"
worm-dye." Our modern word vermilion carries the Aamc tiiimifieauce,
a colour derived from a worm, though the facts of the manufacture do
not in this case bear out the name of the pigment.
2
In "the good old times," before school boards and Civil Service
examiners, spelling gave our ancestors but little anxiety. We n'ud thfc
word in the different inventories and documents of the Middle AgtiK
appearing not only as above, but as cbysypull, chesebyll, cLesebull,
chesable, chyssypull, etc., etc.
USE OF GREEN AS A SYMBOLIC COLOUR. 25
as they flourish are beautiful with verdure. It is a colour

most wholesome and pleasaut to the eye." 1 In the ponti-
fical of
Bishop Clifford, written in the fifteenth century,
we read, "Viridis color -vividus est et visu jocundus atque
comfortaturus."
Amongst the ancient Britons a strict rule limited the
colour of the dress assigned to each of the ranks of
official
the bardic order, spotless white, as we have seen, for the
druid or priest sky-blue for the bard or poet and green,
; ;
the verdant decking of wood and downland, for the teacher

of the virtues of herbs and the mysteries of leech-craft.
Durandus associates with green the idea of contemplation,
an interpretation that it may well bear, since the lover of
.
nature is ever thoughtful hence Wordsworth exclaims,
;
" To me the meanest flower that blows cau give

Thoughts that do often lie too deep for teats."
*'
Young the course of nature is the art of God."
affirms
"
Chaucer Nature
calls the vicar of the Almightie Lord,"
while the Bible abounds in passages teaching the same
"
truth. All Thy works shall praise Thee, God, and Thy
saints shall bless Thee. Praise ye Him, sun and moon;
praise Him, all ye stars of light, mountains and all hills,
fruitful trees, and all cedars."
Green in mediaeval days was ordinarily associated with
the Feast of the Trinity. 2 Hence, in the instructions of
Bishop Grandisson of Exeter, issued to his clergy about the
"
year 1337, we find the direction, On the feast of Trinity,
if they have beautiful green vestments with copes, tunicles,
and dalmatics in a sufficient number for such a feast, they
must be used otherwise let wholly white or light vestments
:
be assumed."
Shakespeare, in "The Merchant of Venice," writes of
"green-eyed jealousy," and again, in Othello:
"
beware, my
lord, of jealousy;
It is the green-eyed monster."
1 " A mead with lively verdure DANTE.

fresh."
2 "
d'espe"rance, couleur employee plus ge'ne'ralement an
Symbole
temps qui n'est point characterise* par la joie, par le -feu divin, par le
sang, par la penitence ou la tristesse, Cette couleur verte est done
applique an temps libre avant la Septuage'sime et surtout au temps qui
s'ecoule apres la Pentec6te, jusqu'a 1'Avenfc." MALAIB.
In many ways green was regarded in mediaeval folk-lore

unfavourably, from its supposed association -with the fairies,
and from divers other superstitions that need not here be set
forth, since onr space can, we think, be better appropriated.
It is curious to find that in some of the Italian liturgical
books green is given as an alternative for black in the office
u
for the dead. It may be so found for example in the Liber
u
Sacerdotalis," printed at Venice in 1537, and in the Liber
Clericorum," A.n. 1550.
Blue, the colour of the clear sky, does not carry on its
face so evident a meaning as the purity of spotless white,
the burning ardour of glowing red hence it bus somewhat
;
arbitrarily been taken

to represent eternity, faith, fidelity,
loyalty, truth, spotless reputation. It was one >f

the Levitical
<
colours, and many references to it will be fount! in Kxotlus,

in the description of the tabernacle and of tin priestly robes.
1
u
In the book Esther we read of ilordeeai in royal apparel
of
7 '
of blue and white, but this probably should rather be ren-
dered purple.
**
"Blew, which colour," Bays an old writer, represent eth
the Aire amongst the elements, is of all the mst the greatest
favourer of life, as the only nurso and maintainer of vitall
spirits in any living creature. The cullor of blew is com-
monly taken from the cloere skye, which appwireth so after
that the tempests be overblowne, a prosperous successe and
good fortune to the wearer in all his uffayrcH."
tl
The Earl of Surrey, in his Complaint of a Dying Lover/'
associates the idea of loyalty and devotion with blue in the
lines,
"
By him I made hit? tomb,
lu token ho was true,
And as to liim belonged well,
I covered it with blue."
"
Chaucer, again, in the Court of Love," writes,
"Lo, yonder iolke (quod she) that kneto in Mew,

They wear the colourage, and ever Klial,
The ftigne they wore, and dver will bo trw%
Witbouten change."
"True blue" is now generally associated politically \vith the

Conservative party.
Other political colours are the orange of the Ulsterman,
SYMBOLIC USE OF PURPLE AND GRA Y. 27
i_
the green of the Irish Nationalist, the -white of the Bourbon

and the Stuari the black of the House of Hanover, the"
red and white rases of Lancastrian and Yorkist, the violet
of the Napoleons, and so forth.
Purple has always been associated with royal majesty,

and accepted as 1jh.e sign of imperial power. Thus in ancient
Rome the toga of the emperor, or of conquerors on the day
of their Triumpli, was purple. The Babylonians and other
Eastern heathen nations used to array their gods in purple
robes. Homer intimates that garments of this colour were
worn by princes alone, and a very early illustration of this
royal use will be found in Judges viii. 26, where the kings
of Midian, defeated by Gideon, are described as being clad
in purple raiment. The pre-eminence still given to purple
is no doubt a result of the old
regal association. Probably
the ancient preference arose when the relative superiority
in beauty and brilliancy of purple to other colours was
greater than at the present day, as the Tyrian dye prepared
from shell-fish was highly esteemed, and the Phoenicians
excelled all others in the manufacture of these pre-
eminently beautiful garments.
Ecclesiastically purple and violet have borne an entirely
different significance, being devoted, not to imperial pomp,
but to penitence and fasting. "La couleur violette," says
Malais, "represente 1'obscurite, la tristesse, et la penitence ";
and amongst other items we find in the inventory, dated
1466, of a London church, "j purpyll chesebyll for gode
fryday." Though white has ordinarily been used as the
liturgical colour for Epiphany, violet has occasionally in
"
some " uses been substituted, in allusion to that text in
Isaiah where the Gentiles are walking in darkness until
the Epiphany manifestation has shone upon their path :
"Populus qui ambulabat in tenebris vidit Incem magnam."

Still more rarely green has been employed, the colour of
hope, to symbolize the ingathering of the Gentiles that till
then had been outside the fold.

Gray or ash-colour has sometimes been substituted for
purple as the Lenten colour, and more especially on the
Continent. Its use was of course suggested by the ashes
distributed on the first day of Lent, Claude Villette in his
"
book, Les Raisons de TOffice et Ceremonies qui se font en
TEglise," published in 1648, speaks of it as "couleur de
28 SYMBOLISM LV CffflST/Atf
terre, cendre, et penitence."In the inventory of the church

property of Exeter Cathedral, A.IX 1&27, we meet with nna
4L
capa cinerei colons pro Die Cinerium/' Lit arnica! ly, gray,
blue, and violet, and even white, are treated as alternative
and secondary colours to hlack,
Black, suggestive of the material darkness and gloom
that follows the withdrawal of the cheering lii^ht of
day,
is meet
symbol of the spiritual darkness of the soul un>
illumined by the Sun of righteousness. see therefore We 1'
how appropriately the title "Prince of Darkness is applied
to the arch-
tempter, the great enemy of the souls of men.
It is the colour of
"
mourning, of shame, and of despair
black despair, the shadow of a starless night/' 1 and of
" all the grisly legions that troop
* -
Under the sooty flag of Acheron."
1
In the apse of one of the Greek churches is a fresco of the

Last Supper. All the apostles have the nimbus ; but while
those of all the other apostles are
bright in colour, that of
poor Judas is black as the gloomy path of Erebus, the
lost
valley of theshadow of death that led to IladoM.

"
Whatsoever Thing there is that hath in it either Light
or Heat, or else a Life, either Animal or
Vegetable, the
Same being onco extinct, tho Thing itel becometh forthwith
Black, which is said to be the colour of Horror and Destruc-
tion; for which respect mourning Garments are made of
that Colour that doth most
significantly represent the Horror
of Death and a
Conniption,"
In Byzantium the
emperor wore white on ihe clout K of a
kinsman, as black garments were forbidden within tho
palace; and the same rule is, we are aware, rigidly enforced
at the present
day at the court of Morocco.
1
Shelley, * Milton.
3
Thus far Guillim. Another old writer however, Pt'rnts willing to
show that even black is not so black aa it is
painted, bestows upou it a
somewhat gloomy character.
lens^ The colour of blacke," he 8U.V8, " ia
*
the most auncicnt of all colours, for in the

beginning there was darkntjUB
over the face of the earth. And
although that the colour of white wa
alwaies most praiseworthy for the
brightness of tbe ame t yefc can we not
omit the honours due to tho colour of
black; aa 'first, it is tho most
perdurable of all colours, for it can hardly be altered into any other
show or colour than the same which of natwe it
i, wberoaa of the
contrarie part it doth easily 1
extinguish aud blot out any other colour.*
THE SYMBOLIC USE OF BLACK. 29
On the conquest of Jerusalem in 1099, the crusaders

installed a patriarch over the church of the Holy Sepulchre
and attendant Augustinians, and in their litogical formula
we find the strange fact that all feasts of the Virgin were
"
to be marked by black. Oinnes sollemnitates beate Marie
cum pannis et vestibus nigris," In all other service books
white is the invariable colour. It has been suggested that
its use had reference to the passage in the Song of Solomon,
"I am black, but comely"; but there seems no reason why

on such a ground the church at Jerusalem should make so
marked a departure from universal custom. Can it possibly
have been from a feeling that Jerusalem was the scene of
the betrayal and crucifixion of the Divine Son, and that
whatever homage might elsewhere be meetly paid to the
virgin purity of Mary must at the scene of her bitter
sorrows give place to the sadder memorial of heart-breaking
anguish ?
In the thirteenth century it was the custom on Christmas
Eve to have a threefold vesting first of black, to signify
:
the time before the declaration of the law to Moses; on the

removal of this, white, to indicate the days of prophecy and
;
then red, to symbolise the love and charity to mankind that

the coming of the Christ brought into the world.
"
In an inventory of 1407 we find the item, an hole ves-
"
timent of blac for masse of requiem while in another,
;
dating from about 1540, we come across "a pair of curt-

teynes black for dyrges."
Black was in the Middle Ages associated with witchcraft.
It is naturally a type of darkness, and therefore the transi-
tion to moral darkness and dealing with familiar spirits is
readily made hence such incantations and invocations of

;
diabolic power were naturally known as the black art.

Almost all allusions to the colour have a touch of the
disquieting element in them. Thus a man who would fain
get into a somewhat exclusive club fails to do so because
he is blackballed he loses his cash through black-mail if
;
he is and weak as to yield to the menaces

so unfortunate
of a blackleg ; while the knave himself, if he goes from bad
to worse, may not impossibly see the judge put on the blacjc
cap when his sentence is pronounc'ed,

CHAPTEK III.
in Art Pictures in the

Representations of the Trinity The "Trinitft"
National Gallery Beasons for Avoulauco by Early Christians of
all Eepresentations of the First Person Policy Keverence The
Gnostic Heresy The Eye, Hand, and Arm of the Lord Latin
and Greek Forms of Benediction The Head Tlu Whole Figure
Final Irreverence of Treatment The Second Person of the
Trinity In Early Ages represented as almost a Youth Change of
Feeling The Type adopted in the Latin Church An<l in the Greek
Church The Incarnation Christ as Orpheus A* the Good
Shepherd The Passion Plays of the Middle Agon The Crucifix
The Holy Spirit in Human Form.
REPRESENTATIONS of the Trinity do not appear till somewhat

late in the history of art. Fig-arcs or gym bolt* of the Saviour
may be met -with, at a very early period, a nlso the dove
and other symbolic forms of the Holy Spirit but for een-
;
turies no sculptor or painter ventured on any symbol of

similitude of the first Person of the Trinity. Why this
was the case we shall see later on, when we deal with the
three Persons individually.
While we find amongst the Hindus a Trinity of Deities,
Brahma the great creator, who presides especially over the
earth, Siva the destroyer, who reigns over fire, and Vislmn,
whose empire is the water; and amongst the Greeks and
Romans, Zeus or Jupiter reigning over earth and heaven,
Poseidon or Neptune controlling the sea, and A'idoneus or
Pluto the governor of the shades of Hades; the Triune
God of Christendom is a Trinity of almighty Power, of
boundless Love, of beneficent Wisdom.
Thoophilus, bishop of Antioch, who ilonnshed in the
second century, was the first who used tho word trinity to
express the three sacred Persons in the Godhead, and the
doctrine it expresses has been generally received amongst
Christians. No reference will be found to it in the Old
30
REPRESENTATIONS OF THE TRINITY. $i
Testament, but in the New it is very explicitly set forth in.

the directions as to the rite of baptism in Matthew sxviii.
19, and in other passages.!
In the National Gallery will be found a picture by
Garofalo entitled, "The Vision of St. Augustin." Augus-
1
tinus, bishop of Hippo,, and one of the Doctors of the
Church, relates that while engaged in a work on the Trinity,
he had a vision in which he saw a child endeavouring with
a ladle to empty the ocean into a hole which he had made
in the sand and upon the saint pointing out to him the
;
uselessness of his toil, the child retorted by observing how

infinitely more futile was the endeavour to explain what the
Deity had left an inscrutable mystery.
"
Amongstlater Italian painters the Trinita," a conven-
tional representation of the Godhead, was a favourite subject.
A very good typical example may be seen in the National
Gallery, by Pes&IHno, in which we see Christ extended upon
the cross, while the Dove hovers above. The Father is
seated, surrounded by cherubim and seraphim, and with
outstretched hands beneath those of the Saviour sustains
the weight of the cross. In other representations all three
Persons are given in human form, the Father as an aged
man, the Son and Spirit being younger looking; while in
some few cases all three are as exactly alike, to carry out
the idea of perfect equality, as the artist could make them.
In such cases one extended cloak frequently enwraps all
three figures, while one figure holds a globe, the emblem of
dominion, the second tlie cross of sacrifice, while the third
bears a roll or book, the attribute of wisdom. In the old
church records we often find mention of representations of
the Trinity, but unfortunately so briefly given, that we get
no hint of the composition of the group. Thus in a parish
book of St. Christopher's, London, dated 1488, we find "a
chales with a patent of silver with a Trinite weyng xxi
owncs," and "ij cloths stained white for thappostles altar,
above with the Trinity and beneath with Our Lady," and
yet again, "a Banner-Cloth with the Trynyte theryn."
Illuminated manuscripts often supply illustrations, and in far
1
These were Saints Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazianzen, and
Chrysostom in the Greek Church; Saints Jerome, Augustin, and
Gregory the Great in the Bomish Church.
32 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART*
better condition than the sculptures on fonls and elsewhere,

that by stress of time and puritanical violence are so far
disfigured as to make identification of subject often mere
guesswork*
A
picture of tie Madonna and Holy Child by Domcnico
Veueziano, in the National Gallery, supplies us with another
variation of treatment of the subject. In the "TrinifaV*
we see the snfiering Christ; in other examples, as in some
we lave referred to. He appears wifch the other iwo Persons
in strict equality, co-ruler with them of heaven and of earth ;
but in another which this picture is a good

class, of example,
Christ is the babe of Bethlehem standing on the
Virgin
mother's knee, or enfolded in her arms, while the Dove
hovers over the group, and, above all, the Father bonds
down from heaven with arms outstretched in love and
pro-
tection. While there is often in such
representations a
treatment that gives us a sense of sheet
and-irreverence, \ve
must nevertheless bear in mind that in all such cases inten-
tion is everything, and the intention
undoubtedly, whatever
we may now think of its
expression, âs beyond question
reverential, and must be judged from that
standpoint alone.
Three very diferent reasons influenced the artists
of the
early Christian period in their avoidance of
any representa-
tion of the first Person in the
Trinity policy, reverence ;
and irreverence.
Jehovah, the eternal Father, "the Lord,
strong and
mighty, the Lord mighty in battle," He "who hath zmaftumi
the waters in the hollow of His
hand, and acted out heaven
with the span, before whose
almighty power Abraham and
Jofcaiid all the sons of men are but
as "dust and ashes"
was m attributes too much Jike the
Jupiter of the old
religion to make it at all advisable to
to attempt a personifies
thatwould possibly remind the converts
to the new
faith of the great
Olympic idol that they had no lately
r >
any creation of pagan mythology. While
for "nn
man t
no
e8
6
f seen
liath ^
^? d Mwoifc
h
/ at
God
a?
^ ôinani
8
any time." The

THE REPRESENTA TION OF JEHO VAH. 33
all human imagination or the loftiest ideal : hence not policy

alone, but a feeling of the deepest awe and reverence was a
restraining influence. Later on, when the new religion had
become more established, and a generation arose who had
never bowed the knee before the shrine of Jove, the necessity
for avoiding any representation that might suggest the old
religion became needless. It may at first sight appear that
it is a dishonour to Jehovah to
suggest a comparison with
Jupiter; but we must bear in mind that while the actual
difference is infinite, such men as Phidias and other great
artistshad invested the images of the gods of Greece and
Borne with the highest and noblest art that the world has
ever seen, forms that it was impossible, no matter how
immeasurably grander the new theme, for the art of man to
surpass. Later on this noble reverence was almost wholly
lost, and what the early ages in awe and a sense of its utter
futility did not dare to attempt became at length so mate-

rialized that we find the great God who dwelleth "in the
light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath

seen, nor can see," represented in the pontifical robes and
tiara, or bearing the orb and sceptre and the royal crown of
an earthly ruler.
Not policy nor reverence alone were restraining causes
In the first century of the Christian era there arose many
strange heresies; and one of these, the Gnostic, held that
Jehovah was a stern, unpitying tyrant, condemning all for
the sin of one, and indifferent to the sorrows of the creatures
He had made. Hence they turned with aversion from the
Jehovah of the Old Testament to the loving and merciful
Saviour of the New, and refused to acknowledge His claim
on their allegiance.
For many centuries the eye, hand, or arm of God emerging
from the clouds that veiled the brightness of the Divine
Majesty were the only symbols employed. At a later date
the head or entire figure was shown, but with not nearly so
grand and impressive an effect as that produced on the mind
by the more reverential treatments of the subject, The
frequent allusions in the Old Testament to the hand and
the arm of the Lord as the instrument of His sovereign
"
power, such as, His right hand, and His holy arm hath
Him the victory"; or of His might in creation, as
gotten
"Thy hands have made me and fashioned me"; of His
D
"
goodness to the creatures dependent on His bounty, Thou
"
openest Thy hands, they are filled with good and of His
;
"
justice, the works of His hands are verity and judgment"
suffice to show how apposite such a symbol would be, and
thus to clearly account for its frequent recurrence. Other
"
texts, such as His eyes are upon the ways of man, and He
seeth all his goings," " The eyes of the Lord are upon the
"
righteous," or, The eyes of the Lord are in every place,
beholding the evil and the good/' justify and explain the use
of the other early
symbol of the God who is not only omni-
potent, but omniscient.
The hand, as in fig. 3, at times sends down streams of light,
and is often in the act of benediction. 1 Our illustration is
from a Greek miniature of the tenth century. The inscrip-
tions show that the
figures introduced arc the prophet
Isaiah and representations of Night and Aurora, these latter
being suggested by the passage in Isaiah "I am the Lord,
:
and there is none else. I form the light and create dark-
ness." The writings of Isaiah dwell in a marked
degree on
the coming kingdom of Messiah, and in the illustration before
us darkness passes away before the
coming dawn, the advent
of the Sun of
righteousness. It is a curious blending of
Christian and pagan ideas and symbols. In the earliest ex-
amplesthose in the catacombs and in the mosaics of the
early Italian churches the hand is without the surrounding
nimbus that we, later on, often find added. The earliest
known representation is from a tomb in the catacombs, dated
359, where Moses is represented as receiving the tables of the
law from the Divine hand
issuing from .a cloud. An inter-
esting example to Englishmen will be seen in the Bayeux
tapestry, where the hand of God is represented over tho
Church of St. Peter, It may be seen also on the coins of
some of our Saxon kings, in one case
accompanied by tho
Alpha and Omega. Constantine II. struck a beautiful gold
1
In the Latin form of benediction the thumb and first two
fingers
are extended, and the last two bent down. It
symbolises the Trinity.
In the Greek form of benediction the
forefinger is extended to resemble
the letter I, while the middle
finger is bent into a C-like form. Tho
thumb and third finger are crossed to make an
X, and the little finger
is bent into a C
again, so that we get 1C XC, the initial and final letters
of the Greek name for Jesus
THE HAND OF GOD. 35
medallion at Byzantium, representing Constantiae I. with

and Constans on either side, while
Ids sons Constantine II.
a hand from heaven crowns him with a wreath. This was
PIG. 3.
issued about the year 330. EuseMus speaks of the same

monarch as gaining the victory over all his enemies, and
enjoying the protection of the right hand of the King of

kings. In fig. 4, the Divine hand issues from the clouds, and
delivers the righteous that trust in God from the perils of

the world, for the souls of. the .righteous are in the hand
"
of God, and no evil shall befall them Into Thy hand I :
commit my In a picture hy Verrocchio of the

spirit."
baptism of Christ in Jordan, the celestial Dove hovers over
His head, and above this again two outstretched hands are
seen issuing from the
sky in a position suggestive of pro-
tection and In a bas-relief by Lnca della Robbia of
blessing.
the Virgin
adoring the infant Christ, two arms issuing from
above are about to
place a crown upon her head. These
are but illustrative of others that
examples many might
Era. 4.
readily be brought forward. in an Even

Egyptian papyrus
m the British Museum, the
god Horns, with widely out-
stretched arms,
represents the vault of heaven extended in
protection over the figures shielded from harm beneath.
Many texts of the Bible refer to the arm of the Lord,* and
lully explain why such a symbol should so
J and
naturally
frequently recur.
It was not until the twelfth
century of the Christian era
As for example Job xl. 9 Ps. xliy. 3

| ;
; Isa. xl 11 H 9 Hi 10
'
Jer
xxz. 5 Ezek. xx. 33 Luke
; ; i. 51 ; Acts xiii. 17.
PIG. 5.
that this reverential treatment gave place to the head, and

then the half, and finally the whole figure. In a fresco by
Paolo TJccello, in St. Maria Novella, of Noah's sacrifice, the
patriarch and his family kneel around an altar, while over-
head the rainbow spans the sky, and in the midst of it God,
represented by a half figure, head downward, looks upon
the little remnant of humanity, and gives the sign of bene-
diction. A
picture in the National Gallery, the Madonna in
ecstasy, by Crevelli, shows the eternal Father bending over
the Virgin; and in the famous and well known picture by
Titian, at Venice, of the assumption of the Virgin, we get a
very similar treatment, where the Father is floating in mid
air, and surrounded by an attendant ring of cherubim.
On
the walls of St. Francesco at Assisi, Giotto has painted
various pictures illustrative of the life of St. Francis, and in
one of these, again, the Father bends down, a half-length
figure, from heaven, and blesses His followers ; while,
not to needlessly multiply examples, we may mention the
Beatification of St. Ursula, by Vittore Carpaccio (fig. 5). In
all such cases the eternal Father, God from everlasting to
everlasting, "the Ancient of days," 1 is represented as a
venerable, graybearded old man.
The
celestial surroundings and the majesty of the figure
in these examples have rendered it impossible to doubt
'all
the Person intended, mistaken and lacking in reverence

as we may deem the representation to be. But in some
examples the figure is so wholly at one with ordinary
humanity, that the last shred of Divine dignity and of gran-
deur of conception is lacking. Thns amid the sculptures
of the cathedral of Orvieto we come on two figures, one
prostrate and sleeping, the other leaning over the first and
making a puncture in his side. As the whole facade is
covered with the Bible history from the creation of man to
his -redemption, we recognise that the particular group in
question is a representation of the creation of Eve, and that
the two very similar figures are really the Creator and
Adam. In the celebrated gates of Ghiberti at Florence, we
find in one of the panels a
dignified but essentially human
1
"Or ever Thou hadst formed the earth and the world, even from
everlasting to everlasting, Thou art God" (Ps. xc. 2). And thrice in
Dan. vii., in vers. 9, 13, and 22, God is styled ** the Ancient of days.*'
THE SECOND PERSON OF TEE TRINITY. 39
figure raising another from the groundan incident that

would not strike us as any way exceptional, that might, for
instance, stand for the pitying Samaritan raising the robbed
and wounded traveller, but which all the surroundings indi-
cate is meant for the creation by the Father of Adam from
the dust of earth.
To the second Person of the Trinity art has ever rendered,
and continues to render, highest homage. He has been
figured at every era, and under great variety of form and
symbol. We purpose here to deal with representations of
Him in the form of humanity, but we shall find elsewhere
that the lamb, the pelican, the fish, the vine, are all
equally symbols of the Redeemer, while many other forms,
such as the Passion symbols, the cross, the sacred monogram,
the chalice, owe their existence and their meaning to their
association with Him.
During the early ages of Christianity the Saviour was
almost always represented as a young man, little more indeed
than a youth, no matter what the incident might be but ;
about the twelfth century His age was represented as being

in accordance with the period depicted. Thus we get the
babe of Bethlehem, and the boy Christ in the midst of the
doctors of the temple. During His public ministry we see
Him in the prime of manhood, gravely gracious as He
extends His hands in benediction, later on rising in glorious
majesty from the tomb, and, finally, severe and unapproach-
able on the throne of judgment.
At the approach of the year 1000 of the Christian era.,
things political and social were greatly overcast, and it
was a general belief that that date would mark the de-
struction of the world. Many charters about this time com-
mence with the words, "As the world is now drawing to
its close." The impression seems to have been founded on
an expectation of the millennium. The earlier Christians
had dwelt lovingly on the miraculous and benevolent actions
and the gentle utterances of the Christ; but these now gave
place to a gloomy theology that entirely banished that most
favourite image of the former centuries, the Good Shepherd,
and dwelt upon every painful episode of the Passion, which,
till then, had never been introduced in art or assigned a
prominent place in theology. Hence too scenes of the last

Judgment were depicted, and with every accessory of morbid
4o SYMBOLISM 2tf CHRISTIAN ART.
horror while the ideal Christ of the earlier days disappears,

;
and the Man of sorrows, wounded, bleeding, takes His place

in art and in the thoughts of men.
Besides the youthful, beardless Christ, the ideal adolescent
of eighteen years or thereabouts, and the later type that Wes-
tern Europe is now familiar with, and of which we may see
countless medieeval and modern examples in art, we get in
the Greek Church, and in work done under the later Byzan-
tine influence, yet a third type. The Latin Church has
always held that, while Christ
was Son of man, He was still
Son of God, and that the sins He came to expiate, and all
the sorrows and vices of humanity that He bore the burden
of, were powerless to sully
His glory and dignity j while
the Greek Church, dwelling upon such a passage as that
in the Epistle to the Philippians, where Christ was said
to have made Himself of no reputation, and to have taken
upon Himself the form of a servant, depicted Him as hav-
ing, in the words of Isaiah, "no form
nor comeliness, no
l
beauty that we should desire Him," Hence ^thcse repre-
sentations depict the Saviour, crushed, impoverished, beaten
down beneath the load of human wretchedness. This is
however to represent the Conqueror of death and sin, the
Redeemer of mankind, as well-nigh vanquished in the strife,
and is surely, theologically and artistically, a mistaken view
and treatment.
Christ is the author of Christianity, the fountain from
whence all its blessings flow, and from Him, most naturally,
the new religion derived its title. Hence to Him all the
devout throughout the centuries havo turned with pro-
foundest gratitude and homage, 2 and to Him art, and all
else, should ever render highest honour.
1
"Despised and rejected of men a Man of sorrows, aud acquainted
;
with grief and we hid as it were our faces from Him He was despised,
:
;
and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our grief**, and carried
our sorrows yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten of God, and
:
afflicted. ... He was bruised for our iniquities the chastisement

;
of our peace was upon Him."

2
"Millions of penitents find the peace and consecration of a new life
in laying the burden of their sins
upon One who has boruo it. Millions
of believers pass into the dark
valley with a hope stronger than death,
because they have cast themselves upon One whose death is their life.
Christendom lives and dies upon one of His creative words, * The Son
SEEKING AFTER GOD.
la the incarnation of Christ was met and satisfied the

yearning of mankind for some visible manifestation of God.
Man is crashed and awed by the idea of the infinite, and the
impossibility of realizing the incomprehensible God. Hence
Job's cry was but the articulate utterance of the heart-ache
"
of myriads Behold, I go forward, but He is not there and
:
;
backward, but I cannot perceive Him." These yearnings
FIG. 6.
the noblest people of antiquity endeavoured to satisfy by

statues of the gods that will ever remain incomparable in
their beauty, while they were after all so unsatisfying that
of man came to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many.' He
had but to breathe a few words into the air, and in unending succession
'
the
martyrs spring forward to lead the forlorn hopes of the army of
'
Cross : fearing but one thing, lest He may be ashamed of them ; hoping
greatly but one thing, that the Captain's voice may
make music in their
"
hearts, and the Captain's smile fall with its sunshine upon their brows
(" The Diviuity of our Lord/' by Dr. Alexander).
42 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART,
the final outcome was a statueless altar "to the unknown

By the same indwelling instinct, the savage of
1
god."
equatorial Africa carves the
trunk of a tree, and decks it
with opalescent shells, or adorns it with the gay plumage of
rare birds and it is to him an ideal of that higher Power
;
which even he thus dimly recognises. Among the

ôther
and manifold benefits of the Incarnation is the satisfying of
this craving. In this superhuman Humanity we recognise,
not man alone, but the Divine.
In the earliest period of Christian art we not unfre-
quently, as in meet with representations of Christ as

fig. 6,
Orpheus. While evidently adopted from the heat-hen mytho-

logy, with which the early converts
were so familiar, its
to Christianity was felt to be very legitimate.
application
Orpheus seated with his lyre amongst the trees, and sur-
rounded by the wild beasts that the sweetness of his music
had tamed, might well be taken as an emblem of the attrac-
tive force of Christ. The symbol may be seen on oarly
coinage and in the catacombs. In a chamber, for instance,
in the catacombs of Sfc, Calixtus, the central space imme-
diately over theinterment is taken up by a long, semi-circular

painting of this subject while on one side is the prophet
;
Micah, on the other Moses striking the rock, and above it.
the Virgin mother and Holy Child.
The early Christians would be very familiar with the legend
of Orpheus and the beasts, as it was a favourite subject of
representation amongst the Romans. We need but refer, in
illustration of this, to the mosaic pavements found at Hork-
stow and Winterton in Lincolnshire, and at Barton, near
Cirencester.
In all these, the treatment of the subject is very similar.
In the first of these, we have a series of ellipses, tne centre
one containing Orpheus the next, rabbits, squirrels, weasels,
;
and such like small creatures; the next, birds; and the outer
and largest ring, the lion, elephant, bear, tiger, boar, etc. In
the second we have Orpheus in a central octagon, and then
eight outer spaces, with elephant, dog, fox, boar, stag, etc. '
In the third example, the inner circle has the figure of

Orpheus
1
Or, as it is still more iu its vagueness in the Revised
strikingly put
" To an unknown God."
Version,
THE GOOD SHEPHERD. 43
the next has figures of birds, such as the duck, robin,

peacock, and several others; while the outer circle is occupied
by the elephant, horse, boar, lion, and other quadrupeds.
Good Shepherd holds a very conspicuous
Christ as the
in and soon entirely supplanted the
early art,
rpheus symbol. This treatment may be met with freely
SDsition
in the catacombs, on the walls, on the lamps found in the
tombs, and in the mosaics of the oldest churches. Pigs. 7
and 8 are from gems dating about the year 300 A.D., and
giving us a good illustration of the treatment of the sub-
ject in early Christian art. It is very strange that this
most expressive symbol died out completely before the tenth
century, and is never met with again until the sixteenth
century, and even then very sparingly, while it was never
FIG. 7. FIG. 8.
adopted in the Greek Church at all, The Saviour Himself

"
most explicitly applied the title to Himself, I am the Good
Shepherd," and in the Epistle to the Hebrews (xiii. 20) He
"
is again called our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of
the sheep." He is represented in art as tranquilly resting
amongst the surrounding sheep, or as bearing one the
"
lost sheep of the parable upon His shoulders. The good
"
shepherd layeth down his life for the sheep hence the
:
symbol testifies, not of protection and direction alone, but of

devotion, carried to the extreme of willing sacrifice.
The dramatic representations in the Middle Ages, of which
the Oberammergau play is a survival, were of great educa-
tional value, as the graphic and dramatic arts appealed
most forcibly to those who were unable to read for them-
to the personages
selves; while the living actors gave reality
or sculptured round their
painted in the cathedral windows,
and the painter's
doorways, and thus quickened the sculptor's
art. No doubt art gained much from the mysteries and
plays of the time, which
were pressed into the service of the
Church; and the great truths of religion
were offered on
every hand to the eyes and ears of
the people by carver,
,
painter, musician, actor,
and poet.
Gregory Fazianzen, desiring to banish profane plays
from
the theatre at Constantinople, prepared several sacred
dramas to take their place -and Chrysostom wrote a tragedy
;
"
called The Dying Christ," which was many times repre-
sented in the same city.
was always, until the fourteenth cen-
Christ as the infant
tury, depicted clothed, and it was only at the decadence of
Christian art that He was represented as nearly or quite
naked. Christ as the sufferer on the cross of shame is not
found at all until the fifth century. Though the cross itself
early appeared as a symbol of the crucifixion, it was nearly
five hundred years after the event commemorated ere it
became the crucifix.Until the eleventh century the body of
Christ upon the cross is always clothed, as we see in fig. 9,
wherein He is represented as the great High Priest. After-

wards, the breast is uncovered, and the drapery becomes an
apron descending from the waist to the knees, till in the
fifteenth century it becomes the simple band, as shown in fig.
10, where nevertheless He wears the kingly crown upon His
brow, and is shown with the rayed nimbus. The sun and
moon, typical of nature, often appear in early work on either
side of the cross. In the early centuries the serpent is
placed beneath the foot of the cross, as a symbol of sin
overthrown.
The Holy Spirit, the third Person of the Trinity, lias from
about the sixth century down to the present day been con-
stantly symbolized by the dove. On this we shall dwell
more at length later on, when considering the various animal
forms that have been pressed into the service of symbolism.
In the tenth century the custom arose of
representing the
Holy Spirit in human form but after being very freely in
;
use for nearly six hundred years,

Pope Urban VIII (A.D.
1623) prohibited the practice as being contrary to the
traditions of the Church, and it was at once entirely aban-
s
d
cs
I
doned, and the older symbol of the dove substituted in its

place. When represented in human form, the distinguishing*
attribute of the Holy Spirit is the roll or book held in the
hand, the symbol of intelligence and wisdom.
CHAPTER IV.
The Sacred Monogram Its Appearance to Constantine The Ohrisma
The Labarum Construction and Meaning of the Monogram
Examples from the Catacombs of RomeOn
Coins, Charters,
etc. The I-H-S- The Nimbus Its Pagan Origin The Sun-god
Modifications of Nimbus Treatment in Christian Art The
Horned Moses The Old Testament Saints Nimbed Allegorical
Figures Nirabed Hexagonal Nimbus The two Uses of the Square
Nimbus The Triangular Nimbus Enrichment of Surface
Name of Wearer within Nimbus The Cruciferous Ninabns Clus-
tering Bays of Light Illuminant Power of the Nimbus A Golden
Elliptical Line The Aureole A Glory of Flame-like Bays When
applied to the Virgin Mary Vesica Piscis Divine Oval Mystical
Almond Mandola Aureole of Cherubs.
WE propose now to consider the various forms assumed by

the monogram, and the nimbus the first a symbol exclu-
:
sively appertaining to Christ ; the second a mark of holiness

or of power of far wider application.
The earliest form of monogram is the symbol whicb is
said to have appeared to Constantine, outshining the sun in
"
its splendour, while a voice was heard to exclaim, By this
sign shalt thou conquer." Assigning any value we may to
this legend, the fact at least remains that Constantine did
receive some sudden shock to his old superstitions, and that,
joining the Christian Church, he henceforth removed the old
Roman eagle from tlie standards of the legions, placing in its
stead the sacred monogram. There is no reason to suppose
tliat this monogrammatic symbol was not in use amongst
the Christians previously. What the monarch saw or fancied
he saw was doubtless a form whose meaning he already
knew it would, in fact, from its abbreviated character, have
;
been otherwise meaningless to him. 1 The monogram is
i One of the great difficulties in reading ancient inscriptions on tablets,

charters, coins, and so forth, arises from this very free use of abbrevia-
47
SYMBOLISM IN- CHRISTIAN ART.
sometimes termed the chrism^ or, erroneously, the Idbarum.

The labarum is the standard marked with the sacred device,
and not the device itself. The labarum, see fig. 11, was
after his victory over
adopted by the Emperor Constantine
Maxentins, duly described by Ensebius. The emperor also ^
caused the sacred symbol to be represented on the shields

of the soldiers.
1
Julian the Apostate removed it, but it was
and
again replaced by Jovian and his Christian successors,
was continued in use by all the later Byzantine rulers.
11.
The monogram is formed of the first two letters of the

Greek word for Christ, XPISTOS. is X
equivalent to ci,
and the P is the Greek R. This is fonnd on tombs of the
martyrs and others of the reigns of Adrian and of Antonine, in
tion, In mediaeval Latin, for instance, the lettersM and N are specially
liable to elimination, a straight line over
the next vowel being ordinarily
the hint that they are missing, while terminations of words are often
omitted, and at times an apostrophe substituted. Thus on old braa&es
(fc
the
invariablejormula, CujuRjtnime propitietur Deus Amen," is often
:
u
merely Cui' tue ppciet' de' time. The D.g. Brit. reg. fid. del" on
our coinage in daily use would be equally meaningless to any one who
had not the key to their significance,
1
In the mosaics of the sixth century in the church of St. Vitale, at
Eavenna, amongst the guards surrounding the Emperor Justinian a
very good example of this may be seen, the field of the elliptical shield,
some three feet by two, being entirely filled with the
monogram.
ALPHA AND OMEGA. 49
the second century of the Christian era. After passing out of

use for some centuries, it has been in these latter days some-
what revived. The X is sometimes turned, so as to make
itsarms come vertically and horizontally, instead of in the
sloping direction of the ordinary X: this arrangement
gives the added symbolism derived from its resemblance to
the cross. On the coins of Oonstantinus we get the Alpha
and Omega, one oh either side, the acknowledgment of the
"
divinity of our Lord. I am Alpha and Omega, the begin-
ning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was,
and which is to come, the Almighty." As Alpha, God is the
beginning of all things at the creation in Genesis ;
as Omega
in the apocalypse, He is the consummation of all things.

"
Or, to quote the words of the "Venerable Bede Ego sum A
:
et 0, initium et finis, dicit Dominus Deus. Initium, quern

nullus prgecedit ; finis, cui nullus in regno succedit.- Qui ,
est, et qui erat, et qui venturus est, omnipotens." In fig.

12, a lamp of early Christian date and workmanship, we get
the cross- like disposition of the letters, together with the
Alpha and Omega while fig. 13 is an instance of the more
;
typical form of monogram. More rarely the P is turned into

the Latin .R, implying rex, the kingship of Christ. The
monogram is sometimes found inclosed in a circle, the
symbol of eternity, or stnnding upon a circle, symbol of the
conquering power of Christ over the world. At other times

E
we get the X alone or combined with the I, the initial letter

of Jesus, IHSOUS. When
this latter arrangement, the X
and the together,
I is placed within the circle, it resembles a
wheel with six spokes. Often in the catacombs the tombs
surrounded by a wreath, the
of martyrs have the monogram
symbol of victory through Christ. Occasionally on lamps
or gems we see the dove, symbol of the Holy Spirit and of
as descend-
heavenly peace, sitting upon it, or represented
it. charters, and other docu-
ing upon Early inscriptions,
ments are often prefaced by the cross or the monogram ;
IS.
one may see many excellent examples of the latter in the

British Museum, one for example on a deed of Edgar, A.P.
961, and another on a charter of Canute, dated 1031. The
familiar abbreviation of Xmaa for Christmas, that possibly
some of our readers may have used without consideration,
is another illustration of the X 1
being equivalent to Christ.

In Greet art representations of the cross are often accom-
as we see in "
panied, fig. 14, by the
inscription 10 XC
1
NIKA," Jesus Christ the conqueror; or in a still more abbre-
viated form XP and NI on either side. The chrisma was
1
It is also in the Orthodox Eastern Church impressed on the sacra-
mental wafer.
THE I'ff'S MONOGRAM.
in us'e during the whole of the Roman-Byzantine period, fell

into abeyance during the Dark Ages, and re-appeared in the
twelfth century. On a coin of Constantius II. the emperor
,
in full armour is represented as standing in a galley steered

by Victory. In his right hand he bears the phoenix standing
on a globe (for due significance of which see phoenix), and
in his left the labarum emblazoned with the sacred mono-
gram. On a coin of Gratian we see the emperor bearing
the same standard of victory, the idea of triumph over his
enemies being further enforced by the introduction of the
FIG, 14.
kneeling captive at his feet. The sacred monogram was

placed by Louis VI. of France upon his coins, and was
maintained there by one sovereign after another until the
Renaissance scattered all the more ancient traditions and
revived classic forms.
The more familiar monogram based on the HTS is ordi-
narily of later date than the XP, replacing it entirely from

the beginning of the twelfth century. The earliest example
known is on a gold coin of .Basilius I, A.D. 867, This I'H'8
monogram is the abbreviated fonn of the word IHSOUS,
the omission of the other letters being marked by the dash
or bar, above the I'H'S. This dash was afterwards pro-
longed through the upward stroke of the H, and thus formed
52 SYMBOLISM 2N CHRISTIAN ART.
the cross. As the form of the Greek S differs from ours,

being somewhat like a C, the monogram sometimes appears
u
as I'H'O. 1 These letters are often read as signifying Jesus
Hominum Salvator," Christ the Saviour of men; and on
their introduction into the Latin Church, this
meaning was
assigned to them. It is said that this reading was first
suggested by Bernardine of Siena (1380-1441) but appro- ;
priate and beautiful as

certainly it an is, it is
after-thought.
In the National Gallery 2
may be seen a picture by II Moretto
of a group of saints, St. Bernardine, St. Jerome, St.
Joseph,
St. Francis, and others. St. Bernardine is holding up in his
right hand a circle containing the TH'S, and in his left hand
is an
open book with the words, "Pater, manifestavi nomen
tuum hominibus," Father, I have set forth Thy name unto
men. Modern examples, stamped on Prayer-Book covers,
painted on glass, embroidered on Hangings, stamped on
tiles, carved in the stonework, may be met with in profusion
8
everywhere.
We turn now our attention to the nimbus.
This form, which we associate so
naturally entirely with
the service of 4
religion and of Christianity, is really pagan
in its and was a
origin, symbol originally of power rather
than of holiness. Its
origin dates back to an antiquity too
remote for identification. It has been that it conjectured
may probably have been in the first
place suggested by the
Thus in an inventory of vestments and other church

1
property oj
Westminster Abbey, A.D 1388, a mitre is referred to, " cum
ymaginibus
liabens in utraque
parte hoc nomen insertum ISC XPO."
2
Alessandro Bonvicino, commonly called II Moretto de Brescia. His
pictures range in date from 1524 to 1556.
3
In the year 1643 an ordinance was
passed for the utter demolition
and removal of all monuments of superstitious In the parish
idolatry.
book of St. Bartholomew in the
city of the London we read the follow-
"
ing minute Bead an ordinance from a Committee of the House of
:
Commons for the demolition of superstitious and idolatrous

things, both
within the church and without, where it was ordered that the three
letters in the
pulpit cloth I-H'S* should be put out." In the church-
wardens' accounts for the year we meet with the
entry, "p^ to the
imbroderer for taking PH-8- out of the
pulpit doth, and imbrodered
pame again with other work,
twenty shillings, besides five shillings he
allowed me for the old stuff "
4 "
As to the whole
company of Buddhist saints,
with the golden glory
encircling every head, they are scarcely to be distinguished from those of
Christendom." GOEDOJT "
GUMMING, Wanderings inChina."
LIGHT AS AN ATTRIBUTE. 53
rays of the sun. In fig. 15, a coin of Ehodes, we see on the

obverse the rayed head of Helios the sun god, the reverse
being the rose, the device or badge of the city, Sun
worship has amongst pagan peoples been a very prominent
PIG. 15.
feature in almost all ages, and even when the time has
arrived that they have acknowledged a higher power, the
sun has often remained an emblem of the Divinity. Light
liaiTfcherefore been one of the attributes of the gods ;
hence
PIG. 16,
Jupiter wields the lightning flash, Apollo is crowned with

the glowing sunbeams, as in fig. 16, while to Diana is given
the softer light and chastened beauty of the crescent moon.
The idols of China, of Burma, and of Hindustan are often
in
a nimbus as characteristic as any seen
represented with cathedral The
a Gothic
the carvings or stained glass of
the Divine
face of Moses reflected with dazzling brightness
on his descent from Sinai, and a similar manifesta-
glory
tion is claimed for Muhammad after
the cleansing- visit of
the angel Gabriel.

sons struck medals
After the death of Oonstantine his 1
in his honour, in which he may be seen crowned with the

a not necessarily bestowed upon him on
nimbus, symbol
no doubt
account of his embracing Christianity (though
had its influence), as we may also find on some of
this fact
the coins of the earlier emperors, as Claudius
and Trajan, a
similar feature.
1
It was, as we have already indicated, a
and So far was it from being at
symbol of dignity power.
FIG. 17.
firstaccepted as a mark of sanctity, that in

some early Byzan-
tine works even Satan is represented as wearing the nimbus.
In a thirteenth century MS. the Magi and king Herod are
alike nimbed, and in one of the cathedral windows at Strass-
burg are fifteen kings, benefactors to the cathedral, and all

are assigned a nimbus j these date about the eleventh or
twelfth centuries. One of them is Charlemagne, the nimbus
having inscribed within the circumference the words Karolus
Magnus Hex. The double-headed eagle in the arms of
imperial Germany is, as we may see in fig. 17, represented
as being nimbed. In one of the mosaics in the church of
1**
S Sophia at Constantinople we see Christ sitting on a
1
It was a custom with the emperor Commodus to sprinkle gold dust
over his hair, so that, while walking in the sunlight, his head might
appear to shine with supernatural splendour 1
VARIETIES OF THE NIMBUS. 55
throne, and the emperor, richly attired, kneeling in submis-

sion and adoration at His feet. On either side of the throno
are medallions of the Virgin and of the archangel Michael.
Neither of these latter have the nimbus, while Christ, the
King of kings, and Justinian, the earthly ruler, each have this
symbol of sovereignty. On the other hand, Fra Angelico at a
later period gives to the three Magi the crowns of earthly
sovereignty, and reserves the heavenly glory for the holy

maiden mother and the holy child.
Where a nimbus in Christian art is rayed, the rays spring
from the centre of the circle, behind the head, and are
generally very nnmerous the individual rays, necessarily
;
very narrow and linear,being just the opposite in this re-

spect to the form seen on Greek and Roman coins. In these
latter, the rays are few in number (often seven) ; and, while
they, as a series, radiate from the head, they are individually
broad at the base and running out to a sharp point. In the
Christian form a circle is ordinarily shown as joining the
extremities of the rays while in classic examples it is more
;
commonly shown as about half way up them. At other

times, no less in Hindu than in Eoman examples, the nim-
bus is composed of a series of pleats that give as a bounding
edge a zigzag line or sawlike appearance. On the coins of
Rhodes the head of the sun-god has, independently of it
and of each other, a surrounding series of pear-like forms,
fig. 15, which we may very naturally conclude to have
been
intended to represent flames.
The Christian nimbus is not met with on any monument
prior to the sixth century, but during the next three cen-
turies its use rapidly grew. Until the twelfth century the
nimbus was luminous and transparent but during the two
;
following centuries became an opaque disk. It then again

it
became translucent, and was indicated only by the bounding

circle, or by a series of fine rays without the circle at all.
Still later on the circle is put into perspective and becomes
an ellipse, more and more approaching, where the figures
have their heads in profile, a straight line. All early nimbi
were circular the triangular form does not appear till the
;
eleventh century and the square nimbus, as characteristic

;
of a living person, does not come into use until the ninth
century. The first nimbus forms were assigned to God;

later on the angels, His ministers, receive them and only
;
56 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN' ART.
by slow degrees did the apostles, saints, and martyrs become

thus adorned with the seal of holiness.
As the writers on heraldry in the rnedioeval period assigned
arms to the earlier kings, to Edward the Confessor and
others who had the misfortune to be dead and buried hun-
dreds of years before the birth of "the noble science," and
even devised coats of arms for Gideon and Joshna and other
valiant heroes of the Old Testament records, so the religious
painters of the Middle Ages gave to the pre-Christian saints
likehonour with their successors. This was more especially
the case in the Bast, 1 Moses is with \\
always represented
curious form of nimbus
composed of two rays, or two groups
of rays, In sculpture these become exceedingly like
only,
horns. An old theory, more or less satisfactory, held that
God did not reveal Himself to him in all His anil
glory,
that He only delivered to him such of the Divine law
portion
as was especially applicable to the Jews; and that as the
advent Christ, though foretold, was not accomplished,
of
the nimbus of Moses
only bears testimony to the other two
Persons in the Godhead. This, we would venture to say, is
a
particularly lame theory, though we give it us one that
has been gravely advanced, and we cannot
supplant it by
a better. In the fresco by Signorelli, the u History of
Moses," in the Sistine Chapel, the great leader is twice
introduced in the one
picture, and each time with the charac-
teristicnimbus, two groups of three rays each. The colossal
statue of Moses by Michael Angelo on tho monument of
Julius II. has the curious horn-like forms to which we have
referred. As a final example, out of many that might be ad-
duced, of the bestowal of the nimbus on the saints of the old
dispensation,we may refer to the wall paintings of Benozzo
GozzoK (1424-1455) in the
Campo Santo at Pisa. They
represent the stories of the Old Testament, beginning with
Noah and ending with
Joseph, and arc full of patriarchal
1
In the Greek Church the Jewish
patriarchs and prophets are held in
more visible esteem than in the West. Festivals are observed on the
saints' days of
Abel, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Samuel, David, and many
other Old Testament worthies and
; they speak us freely of St. Isaac
and St Jacob as we do of St. Matthew or St.
Mark, and dedicate their
finest churches to them. In a fresco representing the sacrifices of Cain
and Abel, the latter has a
golden nimbus.
ALLEGORICAL AND IDEAL FIGURES. 57
simplicity, pastoral beauty, and incomparable nawete. One

of these is a vintage scene, wherein Noah figures twice in
the composition as superintending the ingathering of the
grapes and in each case he is depicted with the nimbus.
;
Allegorical and ideal figures are also at times assigned a

nimbus such impersonations, for instance, as Faith, Hope,
;
Charity, Prudence, Justice, and Fortitude. In the works of

the Italian painters such abstractions often have a nimbus
"
of hexagonal form, as in fig, 18, a head from the St.
"
Francis Wedded to Poverty of Giotto. The picture is in the
"
lower church of St. Franceso at Assissi. Poverty is no mere

abstraction, but represented by a comely female figure,
is
though clothed in somewhat patched and torn apparel, Our

illustration is the head of Poverty. The Saviour Himself
celebrates the nuptial rite. Those imaginary personages to
FIG. 18.
whom the teaching of the Master has given semblance of

life, such as the wise virgins of the parable, are also
represented often in old pictures and carvings with this
attribute of holiness. On the coins of Faustina, the peacock,
symbol of the glorified soul, has its head encircled with the
nimbus; and on the coins of the Antonines, the phoenix,
the symbol of immortality, is also thus distinguished. The
four evangelists when in human form are of course so
honoured but even when represented by their attributes,
;
the angel, the lion, the ox, and the eagle, the heads of these
creatures are almost invariably encircled by the nimbus.
Where the hand of God is seen proceeding from the clouds,
it is ordinarily surrounded by the nimbus. This is often
of three rays, indicative of the presence and sympathy of
the Trinity in whatever the work may be that has drawn
forth this symbol of the presence of God,
5$ SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
The idea of the nimbus as a symbol of saintliness being

once conceded, it
might be thought that little or no practical
difficulty
would arise in assigning it yet in practice carious
;
deviations are found from what might be imagined a simple

procedure. For instance, in a picture of the Holy Family
by Andrea del Sarto in our National Gallery we notice that,
while the Virgin and Elizabeth each have a golden nimbus
of similar character, St. John and the infant Christ have
none at all. In a picture by Prancia of the
Virgin and the
dead Christ, the Saviour, the
Virgin mother, and two atten-
dant angels, we note that all have
exactly similar nimbi ;
while in another
picture, the procession to Calvary, by
Ghirlandaio, Christ, the Virgin, St. Veronica, St. John, and
other saints, again all have nimbi of identical character.
We see the same
thing again in a beautiful bas-relief by
Luca della Robbia of the Virgin mother in adoration of
the Divine Infant, where the Christ, the mother, and two
attendant cherubs form the group. The
dignity and greater
technical difficulty of the sculptor's art doubtless
go far
to justify this
simplicity of treatment; but as the painter
could so readily enrich and vary his forms, it seems
strange
that the greater or less dignity and
importance of the persons
in such groups as we have indicated should not have been
noted and duly honoured by more or less enrichment of the
nimbus in each case assigned.
Weoccasionally find the square nimbus, though only in
Italian work. It is placed either with
upright sides and
horizontal top edge, or else turned diamond- wise; and this
alternative in the method of its arrangement makes all the
difference in its application and meaning. The latter position
is
exclusively bestowed on the first Person of the
Trinity, and
it is
ordinarily given concave sides. In the "Disputa"of
Raphael, the Divine nimbus has straight sides instead of con-
cave; but it is placed, as is almost invariably the case, lozenge
or diamond-wise. Even here however we meet with an
exception or two thus in the mosaic in the church of San
;
Giovanni in Laterano the square nimbus of God has

upright
sides, but it is surrounded by a circle, emblem of eternity.
Much curious symbolism was associated
by the Neo-plato-
nists and Pythagoreans and the Middle Age
astrologers with
the square, though it would be
foreign to our present pur-
pose to dwell upon it here.
RECTANGULAR N1MBL 59
When the nimbus is a sqnare having upright sides, it

always implies that the person so marked was still living at
the time. It may be freely found in Italian work, and a
good early example may be noted in the South Kensington
Museum in a portion of an eighth century mosaic from
Ravenna. It may be seen too very well in the nimbus
surrounding the head of Pope Leo III., and in that of the

emperor Charles the Great in the mosaics of the Lateran
church. A mosaic in the church of St. Cecilia in Borne is
another good example, as it represents Pope Pascal similarly
distinguished. He holds in his arms a model of this church,
as it was erected through his instructions and assistance.
FIG. 19.
The mosaic dates from the year 820. The same pope, with
similar nimbus, will be met with again in the churches of
Sta Maria della Navicula and Sta Pressede. Both are
in Rome, and the mosaics date respectively 815 and 818.
Durandus says that "when any living prelate or saint is
pourtrayed, the glory is not fashioned in the shape of a
shield, but. foursquare, that he may be shown to flourish
in the four cardinal virtues."
Occasionally this rectangular nimbus, instead of being flat,
is made with its two upright
sides curling inwards, as though
the man were emerging from within a big roll of paper.
At other times we find a straight, upright back, and then
the two sides thrown forward at a sharp angle, suggesting
the idea of a small folding screen behind the head.
60 SYMBOLISM IAT CHRISTIAN ART.
In the fifteenth century the nimbus in the form of an equi-

lateral triangle appears. It is reserved for the first Person
of the Trinity ordinarily, though we occasionally find the
emblem of the Holy Spirit, with a similar nimbus.
dove, the
As emblematic of the Trinity, it would manifestly be equally
properly applied to any one of the three Persons, though
ordinarily the second Person has the circular nimbus,
and
a cross inscribed within it. In some cases beams of light
radiate beyond the triangle, their extremities forming an
exterior circle. In the sixteenth century, figures of the
eternal Father no longer appear, but His name in Hebrew
characters is sometimes placed within an equilateral triangle,
and often the whole surrounded by a circular halo or radia-
tion, as we may see in fig. 19.
The nimbus is often representedas a solid circular dish
behind the head of the person so distinguished ; so solid, in
fact, that inmany of the early pictures where many sainta
are represented the nimbi overlap almost like tiles on a roof,
and allow only very small portions of the heads of those in
the rear to be visible atall. In the beautiful picture of the
Annunciation by Fra Angelico (tig. 20), the nimbus in each
case, that of the Virgin Mary and of the angelic visitant, is
u
of this solid
type. The righteous live for evermore their ;
reward is also with the Lord, and the care of them is with
the Most High. Therefore shall they receive a glorious king-
dom, and a beautiful crown from the Lord's hand for with :
His right hand shall He cover them, and with His arm shall
He protect them." * Durandus says that the crown of the
" 1'
righteous is made in the fashion of a round shield, because

the saints enjoy the Divine protection. "Whence they sing
with joy, " Lord, Thou hast crowned us with the shield of
Thy favour." The solid nimbus is a necessity, of course, in
sculpture, but in painting also it is often represented with
most evident thickness and opacity. In a couple of heads of
saints in the National
Gallery by Domenico Veneziano the
nimbi are of solid gold but while the direction of the light
;
in the pictures throws them mostly into shade, their mar-
gins are defined by a broad edge of brilliant light while in;
a picture by Cossa, also in the National Gallery, of St.

Vincentius Ferrer, the solid plate of gold has its thickness
1
Wisdom of Solomon v. 15, 16.
emphasized by a broad line of vermilion. In a picture by

.Zoppo, in thesame gallery, of Christ being placed in the
tomb, Christ and two saints have all similar nimbi, that,
instead of being absolutely opaque, are like disks of glass
through which the sky can be seen, but having a very
definite and thick edge.
An added dignity was speedily given to these solid nimbi
by a very considerable enrichment of the surface, by paint-
ing, by puncturing patterns on the golden ground, by
em-
bossing, or by the addition of jewels and pearls. In Fra
Angelico's picture of the Adoration of the Magi, Christ, the
Virgin, and St. Joseph all have similar red nimbi, thickly
covered with radiating and radiant golden lines. In a pic-
ture of the procession to Calvary by Ugolino de Siena in the
National Collection, both the nimbi and the background are
gold, so the former have to be brought out by means of in-
cised lines and punctures. These are arranged in quatrefoils
and other geometrical forms. Fra Filippo Lippi, in the
same gallery, affords several good illustrations of this method
of treatment but the richest examples will be found in
;
Orcagna's grand picture of the Coronation of the Virgin,

where a wonderful variety of geometric and floral enrich-
ments will be found.
During the fourteenth century a custom arose of placing
the name of the wearer within the edge of the nimbus. This
lasted for some two hundred years, and may be seen alike in
Greek, Italian, and German art, except that in Greek ex-
amples, instead of the name they almost invariably give the
monogram of the person or some other abbreviation of the
full name, or even only its initial letter. Some very good
examples of these inscribed nimbi may be seen in the National
Collection. Thus in the Marriage of St. Catherine, by San
"
Severino, in the nimbus of Christ are the words Sum
Lux"; in that of the Virgin, "Ave, gratia plena Domi";
while in the golden glory of St. Catherine is the inscription,
"Santa Ktrina de Sena." 1 While it may be objected by the
hypercritical that the first two of these examples are not
1
Two Catherines gure in art and legend the St. Catherine of Alex-
:
andria, whose symbol, the spiked wheel of martyrdom, makes her always
readily recognised in the numerous pictures where she appears and the
;
St, Catherine of Siena of the present picture.

THE CRUCIFEROUS NIMBUS. 63
names at all, they fairly come within the scope of our

remarks, as they are fully equal to them as a means of
identification of those to whom they refer.
la Benozzo Grozzoli's picture of the Virgin and Child, sur-
rounded by angels and saints, the various nimbi are circular
plates of gold, and in every case the name of the wearer is
1
painted in black upon it. In Ludovico da Parma's picture
of St. Hugh, a Bishop of Grenoble in the twelfth cen-
tury, the nimbus is inscribed S'VGO while, to quote but

;
one other example, the Ecce Homo of Niccolo Alunno, in

the glory around the head of the Saviour are the letters
YHS.XPS.NAZ., Jesus Christ of Nazareth, and beyond these
"
the inscription, In nomine Jeu omne genu fleet celestium,
terrestrium, et inferno." The text in the Vulgate runs as
"
follows In nomine Jesu omne genu flectatur, cselestium,
:
terrestrium, et infernorum," At the name of Jesus every

knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth,
and things under the earth.
We may frequently find the cross within the nimbus, and
it is
generally supposed that the Person so distinguished is
necessarily the second Person of the Trinity, Thus Durandus
"
writes : But the crown of Christ is represented under the
figure of a cross, and is thereby distinguished from that of
the saints because by the Banner of His cross He gained
;
for Himself the glorification of our Humanity, and for us

freedom from our Captivity." The cruciform 2 nimbus is not
however exclusively confined to Christ, though it is entirely
" "
devoted to Deity. 3 In the Biblia Sacra we see, for in-
stance, an illustration of the creation of Adam. All three
Persons of the Trinity are present, and all have cruciferous
" "
nimbi. In a Coronation of the Virgin by Borgognone the
diadem is placed upon her head by her Divine Son, the Holy
1
St. John the Baptist, St. Zenobius, St. Peter, St. Dominic, St.
Jerome, and St. Francis.
"
2
In all references to this subject we find the expression cruciform
nimbus." It is not a particularly happy idea, as it suggests the notion
that the nimbus itself is in the form of a cross, instead of containing the
cross. Cruciferous would be preferable.
3
Nevertheless in the picture of the Virgin, St. Jerome, and St.
Dominick, by Filippino Lippi, in the National Gallery, the nimbus of
St. Jerome is distinctly cruciferous. It is the one exception, so far as
we know, to the otherwise invariable rule.

Spirit in the form of the dove hovers over them,

while stand-
ing behind with extended arms is the eternal Father. In
this picture it is the first Person of the Trinity that has a
cruciferous nimbus, while Christ has a plain one. In fig.
56 all three Persons of the Trinity are seen with the crossed
nimbus. In the Giêek Church, on the three visible arms of
the cross we find the Omicron, the Omega, and the Nu
respectively, signifying I AM; while in the Latin Church
we occasionally find the letters R'E'X in token of the
1
sovereignty of God.
21.
It is nevertheless true that the cruciferous nimbus is
especially devoted to Christ; examples where He is without

it, or where others are with it, being comparatively few and
far between. Hundreds of examples are so readily to be
found in mediaeval and modern work, that it is almost need-
less to give illustrations of a fact so
patent.
In fig. 21 the Master is at once distinguished from the
disciples by its presence. The illustration is from a MS. of

the ninth century. It is interesting too from its adherence
1 " I AM THAT I AM " " The Lord

(Exod. iii. is King for ever and
ever" (Pa. x. 16).
THE CRUCIFEROUS NIMBUS. 65
to the archaic principle, so distinctly seen in much early

work, of making the more important figures larger than the
others. Thus the Christ is the largest of all, the disciples
somewhat smaller, the churlish Pharisee much more insig-
nificant, and least of all the repentant outcast. The whole
story, see Luke vii. 36 et seq:, is admirably rendered. Kg.
22 is of much earlier date it is the obverse of the medal of
;
which we have seen the reverse in fig. 1. It will be noted

"
that the legend " Emmanuel is in characters partly Greek
and partly Latin.
The artists of olden time were quite capable of drawing
an. equilateral triangle in a circle, or of dividing a disk into
three equal parts by divergent rays from its centre. A
theory has nevertheless been advanced that oftentimes the
mediaeval painters did not in their apparently cruciferous
FIG. 21
nimbi intend to refer to the cross at all, but that the three
rays that are ordinarily visible were symbolic of the vTrinity.
In most cases the head or beard would prevent the fourth
ray of the cross being seen, even if it were there but un-
;
doubtedly in some cases, where the position of the head would

render it visible, it is nevertheless omitted. While we cannot
dismiss the matter by assuming that the artist carelessly
overlooked the necessity in such cases of indicating the much
or little of the fourth arm that became visible, it certainly
seems curious that, if a suggestion of the Trinity were in-
tended, the three arms should not be placed at the diver-
gent angles that geometrical construction calls for in the
equal division of a circle into three parts. Theologically and
symbolically the idea of perfect equality is not adequately
expressed by a construction thab divides a circle into two
quarters and one half.
Sometimes rays of equal dimensions spread equally, so that
the bounding line would be a circle but at other times the

;
rays from the crown of the head and from

the temples are
more pronounced, while the intermediate rays fall gradually
away. In this case the bounding line used would be a lozenge
with concave sides. At other times the circle is entirely
1
absent, and we get only these three clusters of rays or ;
the circle is present, and while the majority of the rays

stop at its circumference, these three groups stretch beyond
it. These clustering rays from their position naturally
Suggest the cross form again, and are no doubt often dis-
tinctly intended to do so.
In Fra Angelico's interesting picture of "Christ sur-
rounded by Angels,'* some of the figures, instead of nimbi,
have rays of light of varying length, a very early example
of the absence of the bounding circle. In later work, in-
stead of the nimbus, we get a halo of light; as for example
" "
in the Christus Consolator of Ary Schefier, or the faint
" "
gleam around the head of Christ in the Flight into Egypt
of Rubens. The illuminant power of the nimbus, an idea
"
full ofpoetry and admirably expressive of the Light of the
"
world is beautifully introduced in Correggio's "Adoration
"
of the Shepherds at Dresden, and in the works of Raphael
and others, where the nimbus is an actual source of light in
the composition.
In late work the nimbus, if shown at all, becomes a mere
golden line, as in fig. 23, and instead of being a/ flat circular
form becomes amenable to the laws of perspective, and
more or less elliptical, as influenced by the position of the
head, until in the case of a directly side view of the head
"
it becomes almost or
quite a straight line. The Christian
"
Martyr of Delaroche 24) affords us a good example
(fig.
"
of this later treatment. In the "Holy Family by Andrea
del Sarto in the National Gallery, the Virgin so nearly
faces us that the golden line of the glory is almost circular ;
while Elizabeth, being almost in profile, shows in her nim-

bus the close approximation to the simple straight line.
In a picture in onr National Collection by Cosimo Tura of
the "Madonna and Child Enthroned," Christ, the Virgin,
and two angels have nimbi that are just indicated by the
1
A very good example of this may be seen in the " Vision of St.
"
Augustine by Garofalo, in the National Gallery*
FIG. 23,
elliptical lines, while four other angels have nimbi as solid

as dinner plates.
In the sixteenth century the nimbus disappears, though
in these later days of art revival and study of ancient work
it is occasionally introduced, and especially in designs for
church glass. In Holbein's beautiful picture of the Madonna

and Child, the Virgin stands in a niche that has its upper
portion fashioned in the form of a shell, that gives a radia-
tion of line strongly suggestive, and no doubt intentionally
so, of the nimbus,
FIG. 24.
The nimbus adorns the head, while the aureole surrounds

the whble figure. The aureole appears in art later than the
nimbus and disappears before it and even when it was a
;
it was a much rarer form. In the

fully recognised feature,
fifteenth and sixteenth centuries the nimbus, as we have
noted, often lost the hard bounding line seen in earlier
work; and in like manner the aureole became a golden
halo at this period, a glory of simple or of flame-like rays,
or in some instances alternately one and the other.
The aureole is especially devoted to the Deity, though we
_
"
" :
www f r
'
: ::
-'
-0--\-" "- :
-4
T
'
- -
-:
v-'^^y!:^*\
'
-^
. ':- "' \
'. .''
I"-".-
:>
i
:
-'~ '_
;
-i
-
5^' -" i- *\.^ :
'"'.".V^-
!"__ li
;.'jv< ^, _,,.. _7 :
\,
-'
._JT^-7Tl
"
;
.gpii^^^KîS^^g. >
^'^ ->,,, 'fS^*'^^'';

'
0'>: i ',!!
CM
also find it associatedwith the Virgin mother when she

carries theHoly Child in her arms or at her assumption,
;
when borne by angels to heaven or at the last judgment,

;
when she Intercedes for the lost and fallen or when repre-
;
"
sented as in the apocalyptic vision a woman clothed with
the sun, and the moon under her feet, and upon her head
a crown of twelve stars.'*
Abundant passages in the Scriptures suggest the idea of

the radiance of the Divine glory. Thus at Sinai we read,
"the sight of the glory of the Lord was like devouring fire."
"
At the dedication of the Temple the glory of the Lord
filled the house." At the Transfiguration the face of Christ,
" did shine as the
St. Matthew tells us, sun, and His raiment
" "
was white as the light while St. Mark says that
;
His
raiment became shining, exceeding white as snow, so as no
fuller on earth can whiten them," St. John in his glorious
visionsaw the Christ with eyes as flame of fire, with feet as
if inglowing furnace, with countenance as the sun shining
in His strength. 1
The aureole is often, when in the form of a pointed ellipse,
"
called the vesica piscis." We may see it in fig. 25, the
screen of Hereford Cathedral, where the central figure is
thus surrounded. It is also sometimes termed the "Divine

"
oval," or the mystical almond." The generic name aureole
2
is however
preferable, as it includes all the other forms.
Sometimes when the figure is represented as sitting, the
aureole takes the form of a circle or a quatrefoil or instead ;
of being a geometric figure at be a mass of aerial

all, it may
vapour bounded by a waved and irregular line, or a glowing
nebulous splendour fading imperceptibly away. In fig. 26,
the Annunciation, by Fra Angelico, the Father and the
Holy Spirit have both nimbus and aureole.
Very good examples of the ichthus or vesica piscis may
1
When the worn and wearied exile saw the brightness of the glory,
the vision of the splendour of God, he fell at His feet as dead, even as
did St. Paul when the great light shone from heaven upon his
path. It
is hence most natural to express our sense of
deep humility by some
such symbolic action as prostration or kneeling. The Eomans always
covered their heads in the presence of their deities. The Jewish
veiling
during their devotions is another example.
2
By Vasari and other Italian writers on art, the form is called the
mandola or mandorla, from its similarity in shape to the almond.
USE OF BOTH NIMBUS AND AUREOLE. 71
be seen in the picture of the

Virgin and Child by Margari-
tone in the National
Gallery, and in the picture by
Emmanuel, in the same collection, of St. Oosmas and
Damianus. It was more especially in use in the Greece-
Byzantine school, to which the two painters just referred
to belonged but we also find it in works of the later Italian
;
Fia. 26,
" "
school, as in the Sts. Anthony and George of Pisano, or
the^Beato Ferretti" of Carlo Crivelli, both also in the

National Collection. The
Flemish painters, who compara-
tively rarely introduce the nimbus, equally seldom employ
the vesica, though it
may occasionally be seen.
We frequently, as in fig. 26, find both nimbus and aureole
"
employed; thus in the "Speculum Humane Salvationis
we may see a figure of Christ surrounded the
by elliptical
aureole and the head crowned with the cruciferous nimbus.

In the "Trinity" of Pesellino, in the the
Rational Gallery,
figure of the crucified Christ has again both nimbus and
'* "
aureole. In the Ascension in the "Benedictionale" of
Ethelwold, the risen Lord crowned with cruciferous nim-

is
bus again, and enveloped in the radiant aureole. In the

frescoes of Francesco da Volterra in the Campo Santa at
Pisa, illustrating the history of Job, the eternal Father is
more than once represented with both these accessories and
symbols of power and glury. In the fresco of the last
judgment at Pisa, Christ and the Virgin are side by side,
and surrounded by equal and similar aureoles.
While in the work of the architect, sculptor, and metal
worker the aureole, as in the screen at Hereford Cathedral,
necessarily bounded by definite lines, a characteristic also
is
of the earlier
paintings, it is often in later work an indefinite
flood of
golden glory, a luminous nebula, In a curious old
mosaic at Eome, God interposes it as a solid shield to
protect Moses and Aaron from the violence threatened by
Korah and his company. In late art, as in fig. 5, ador-
ing cherubs often form an encircling aureole. We may
see a good
example of this in a picture in the National
Gallery of the Madonna and Child by an unknown painter
of the Umbrian school. In the Madonna di Poligno of
Raphael the seated Virgin and Child are placed within a
circular aureole
beyond the circumference of which are
clustering cherubim; while in his Madonna diS. Sisto the
stiffness of the line is
wholly absent, and the glorious cen*
tral
group is surrounded by these radiant forms. In the
"Assumption of the Virgin," one of Murillo'smost celebrated
works in the louvre, a
step further is reached; all suggestion
of an aureole has
vanished, though the Virgin has a glory of
golden rays around her head, and the attendant cherubim
float in
happy freedom around the glorified Virgin. In the
early legends and apocryphal gospels, such as the "
Gospel
Infancy," we find many suggestions that doubtless
of the
influenced the painters of a later Thus we read that
age.
the cave of the
Nativity "was filled with light more beautiful
than the
glittering of lamps, brighter than the light of the
sun. When the blessed
"
Mary had entered it, it became aJl
light with brightness." Qaando Christus natus est corpus
ejus resplenduit ut sol quando oritur,"
CHAPTER Y.
The Cross Morbid cross-worship The Tau or anticipatory Cross

Crux aiisata The blood on the Lintel Special cognizance of St.
Anthony Latin Cross Greek Cross Cruciform ground-plans
Passion Cross Cross of the Besurrection Cross of Lorraine
Triple Cross of the Popes Deviation of line of Chancel from that of
Nave, the Season The multitudinous Variations of the Cross in
Heraldry The prefatory Cross in Charters Dedication or Conse-
cration Crosses Legend tracing the Cross from the Tree of Life
The wood of the Cross The "Invention of the Cross" The
Crucifix Cross of St. Andrew Celtic Crosses Passion Symbols
Destruction at the Eeformation The Chalice Stigmata The
Crown of Symbols of Time and Death The Scythe and
Thorns
Hour-glass The Skeleton. The Dance of Death God's Acre
The broken Column The Urn Dust and Ashes.
THE cross, erewHle, like the gallows or the guillotine, the

symbol of the doom of the malefactor, has by the sacrifice
of Calvary become the symbol of sublime abnegation, of
Divine pity for the lost and sorrowing sons of men. Hence
for evermore it is no longer the badge of shame, but the
emblem of triumph and eternal hope; and what to the
Roman of old was a sign of infamy has by its association
with the Saviour of mankind become the symbol of victory. 1
1
By a natural tendency of the human mind, a certain morbid state of
feeling has from time to time arisen, and the honour due to the Saviour
has been largely transferred to the instrument of His sufferings, Thus
in a mediaeval MS. of devotions we find the lines :
" Sainte vraie Croix
aouree,
Qui du corps Dieu fus aournee
3fit de son saint sane enluminee
Par ta uertu, par ta puissance

Deffent mon corps de meschance."
The French is somewhat difficult to follow. The lines would read, in
" True and
English : holy Cross adored, adorned with the body of God
73
It glitterson the crown of the monarch (fig. 27), while the

crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick form our
national ensign. It crowns alike the loftiest spires of
Christendom and the lowliest parish churches. It marks
the resting-place of the departed who have died in faith in
its
efficacy and it is the sign in baptism
;
of their admission
FIG. 27.
to the kingdom of the Crucified. Hence the cross has

become one of the most familiar of symbols
throughout the
whole range of Christian art.
T
FIG. 28.
^
The T
or Tau cross (fig. 28) is sometimes termed the anti-
cipatory or type cross, the cross of the Old Testament. It
was the symbol of eternal life with the ancient Egyptians,
and brightened with His sacred blood, by thy virtue and thy power,
defend me from evil."
exhibited :
" crux
^gloriosa.
crux admiranda. lignum preciosum.
admirabile signum, per quod diabolus est victus, et mundus cristi sanguine
redemptus, que sola fuisti mater cristi et lignum dulces
redemptoris.
clauos dulce pondus sustinens que
digna fuisti portare presium huius
seculi. Crux domini sit mecum. Crux sicut vidi. Crux sit salus.
Crux sicut ripa.Crux mini prodest protector et adiutormm in present!
et in futuro et in secula seculorum."
THE HIEROGLYPHIC FOR LIFE. 75
and as such was borne by Thoth. On an Egyptian mummy

wrapping we have seen the dead
man painted lying on a
him a in
couch, while above winged figure hovers, bearing
one hand the hieroglyphic symbol for Breath, and in the

other the Tau, or crux ansafa, as it is sometimes termed,
the hieroglyphic for Life. On a wall-painting may be seen
the monarch worshipping before Thoth, while the god pours
over him from a vessel in his hand what at first sight

appears to be a thin line or stream of water,
but which is
seen on a closer investigation to be a^ series of these symbols,
the gift, in answer to the prayers of the king, of eternal life.
In fig. 29, also from an Egyptian source, we have a very
similar rendering. The Greeks adopted it in a like sense,
and the early Christians of Egypt at first used it instead of
other forms of cross. In the early Christian sepulchres
throughout Egypt and the great oasis numerous examples
may yet be seen and it has been urged, with at least great
;
probability, that this symbol of life was the form

made by
the children of Israel in blood upon their door-posts when the
angel of death passed through the land of Egypt to smite the
first-born of the nation and it was, maybe, the form of cross
;
on which the brazen serpent in the wilderness was raised. 1

Many of the early basilicas were built on this as a ground-
plan, and the symbol is found in the catacombs of Eome.
"
Tertullian writes, hesc est litera Graecorum T, nostra autem
T, species crucis."
FIG. 30.
The Tau cross is the especial emblem of St. Anthony, and

on the institution in 1352, by Albert II. of Bavaria, of the
order of the Knights of St. Anthony, the members of the
order wore a golden collar made in the form of a hermit's
girdle, and suspended from it a stick cut like a crutch, the
Tau cross of the saint.
Though St. Paul, Justin Martyr, Tertullian, Chrysostom,

and other Fathers of the early Church made many trium-
1
In Ezek. ix. 4-6, we read of a mark being set upon the foreheads of
those that sigh for tie abominations committed in the land, and of the
instructions to the destroying angel : " Slay utterly old and young :
. . . but come not near any man upon whom is the mark." In an
enamel of the thirteenth century, where this is represented, the faithful
are marked with the -Tau. In a sermon by Bishop Andrews on this
we "
text read, This reward is for those whose foreheads are marked with
Tau."
VARIOUS FORMS OF CROSSES,
pliant references to the cross, it

was not till the fifth century
that it begin to appear in art, the monogram of Christ
having till that time been exclusively used. The first occur-
rence is in a mosaic at Ravenna, and the date is about 440.
When the lower portion of the upright piece is longer
than the rest, as in fig. 30, it is termed the Latin cross;
when four arms are equal, as in fig. 31, it is the Greek
all
cross. At
first both forms were used indiscrimatingly in
each Church, and each form may be found in the catacombs.

The church of the Holy Apostles at Constantinople was
cruciform in ground-plan, the nave being somewhat longer
than the upper part for, as Procopius very explicitly states,
;
u
the western nave is longer than the choir by all the extent
FIG. 31.
necessary to constitute a cross of crucifixion or Latin cross."

The Latin cross suggests the actual form, while the Greek
cross is idealized; the Romans being an essentially matter
of fact people, and the Greeks equally essentially an artistic
and poetic race.
The Latin cross is also termed the cross of Calvary, or
the Passion cross. The cross of the Resurrection is often
placed in the hands of the risen Christ. It is ornate in

character, and ordinarily bears a banner attached. The
cross is sometimes
represented as made of branches, in refer-
ence to such passage as that in the Acts of the Apostles,
"
where Peter declares, The God of our fathers raised up
"
Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a tree and elsewhere,
;
"
Who His own self bare our sins in His own body on the
tree." Sometimes instead of rugged branches the cross is
idealized, and represented as bearing leaves and fruit.
On the cross of Calvary was nailed a scroll bearing au
inscription, and, suggested by this, the Latin cross has
occasionally, as in fig, 32, a double cross piece. This is the
cross of Lorraine and of the Knights Hospitallers, It is a
form constantly seen in Greek and Byzantine art, and dates
from a very early period. The pope has borne before him
a triple cross, cardinals and archbishops have the double

to the bishops.
form, and the single cross is devoted
FIG. 32.
"
In the Descent from the Cross," by Quentin Matsys, the
central cross is of the Latin form, while those on either side
" 15
are of the Tan type. In the Crucifixion, by Antonello
da Messina, in the musenm at Antwerp, Christ has a well-
formed cross, while the malefactors on either side are bound
on rough trees that are not at all cruciform in character.
When the basilica form was gradually abandoned, there
was a general adoption of the Latin cross in the West, and
of the Greet cross in the East, as the ground-plan. The
Church of the Holy Sepulchre was made circular, a natural
arrangement in that particular instance, as the traditional

site of the actual sepulchre of our Lord thus became the
central point; and all other circular churches in Europe
were suggested by this, and had in themselves but little
appropriateness of form. The Latin cross may be very
well seen in the ground-plans of the cathedrals of Santiago
di Compostella, in Spain ; of Siena and Florence, in Italy ;
of Cologne, in Germany; of Elgin, in Scotland; of Lincoln,
Rochester, Salisbury, and many other cathedrals and
churches, both in the United Kingdom and abroad.
In the early churches a cross was frequently inlaid in the
design of the pavement, part of it running into the chancel,
the arms passing down the centre of each transept, and the
rest along the middle of the nave but a solemn anathema
;
was pronounced at the second (Ecumenical Council on those

who should tread the sacred symbol under foot, and the
custom of placing the cross where it could be thus trampled
on at once ceased.
In many churches a slight deviation in the chancel from
the line of direction of the nave may be found. It is
very
clearly marked in the cathedrals of York and Lichfield, and
in many large parish churches. It symbolises the inclination
PIG. 33.
FIG. 36.
FIG. 35.
FIG. 34.
FIG. 37.
8o SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
of the Saviour's head upon the cross. While generally to

the south, not unfrequently toward the north, no rule
it is
of practice haying been laid down in favour of either.

Not a few churches are dedicated to the cross. The
cathedral of Orleans is that of the Sainte Croix, while at
Florence we find the Santa Croce. Other instances are
St. Cross at Winchester and the Scottish Holyrood,
Unless distinctly stated to the contrary, the various crosses
of heraldry have arms of equal length. The shape of the
shield would naturally render this the more convenient
form, and as by far the greater number of these devices
originated with the wars of the cross, the crusaders in their
eastward wanderings would naturally come under Greek
influence. Engrafted upon the original Greek cross, the
heralds have produced great variation of detail. 1 Examples
of ten of these are given in figs. 33-42. Dame Juliana
Berners, at a time when blazonry was comparatively simple,
"
declares in her
el
Boke of St, Albans that " crossis innu-
"
merabull are borne dayli while Legh, another old writer,
;
FIG. 38. FIG. 39. FIG. 40. FIG. 41. FIG. 42,
affirms, "You bring in somany crosses, and of so sundry

fashions, that you. make me in a maner werye of them,"
" "
Berry's Encyclopaedia Heraldica enumerates and figures
385 varieties, but many of these are seldom 2
employed.
1
Such as the cross pommee, where the ends terminate in circles,
suggestive, as the name shows, of apples ; the cross fleurie, where the
extremities end in forms like the
fleur-de-lys ; the cross-erosslet, where
each arm is itself crossed, as in figs. 41,
43, together with other forms,
moline t recercelSe, patonce, botone*e, decide,
pat6e> and multitudinous
other examples that may be found duly set forth in
any good book on
heraldry.
*
Heraldry is
largely symbolic ; but, interesting as the subject is, it
would be impossible to deal with
adequately here. Our companion
it
volume, The History, Principles, and Practice of Heraldry,"

J goes
* fully
J
into the matter.
Tff INVOCATORY CROSS. Si
On early deeds and charters we often find the subject

matter prefaced with a cross as a pledge that its contents
are just and true, or in other cases having a dedicatory or
1
inyocatory meaning.
PIG. 43,
1
On
the back of an ivory diptych, still preserved, the following
"
inscription, dating A.D, 772, may be seen: 5< Let us stand 'well.
% Let us stand with reverence. iji Let us stand with fear. Let us
attend upon the holy oblation, that in peace we may make the offering
to God. The merey, the peace, the sacrifice of praise, the love of God
and of the Father and of our Saviour Jesus Christ be upon us, Amen.
In the first year of Adrian, patriarch of the city. Bemember, Lord,
thy servant John, the least priest of the church of St. Agatha. Amen,
ijl Bemember, Lord, thy servant Andrew Machera. Holy Mother of
God ; holy Agatha. % Bemember, Lord, thy servant and our pastor
Adrian the patriarch. % Bemember, Lord, thy servant, the sinner,
John the priest."
G
$2 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
We now turn to dedication or consecration crosses. Those

who are at all interested in the subject will doubtless have
'observed crosses carved or painted on the walls of various
old churches. These are known as dedication crosses, and
they were placed at the various spots touched by the bishop
while performing the ceremony of consecration. Very few
dedicatory crosses of the
Norman period are now extant,
be seen in the churches at Wiston,
though they may
Ditteridge, Barfreston, and some
few other places; but
many crosses of later date and of varied and elegant design
may be found.
;
In a consecration service' of the eleventh century we find
that an important part of the ceremony was the anointing
of the walls with oil of chrism at various points in the
building, and it was the custom to mark the places before-

hand with the cross. A MS. of the sixteenth century in the
British Museum shows us the bishop in the act of anointing
one of these crosses. Injudicious restoration and wall-
scraping have unfortunately destroyed many of these interest-
ing relics of the past. Ordinarily three were placed on the
north, south, east, and west walls respectively, both inside
the building and out, thus making a total of twenty-four.
The following extract from the old writer Durandus explains
their significance and use. It will te seen that he refers to
twelve instead of twenty-four, as his description clearly
"
refers to the interior of the church alone. Next when
the Altar hath been anointed with chrism, the twelve crosses
painted on the walls of the church are also anointed. The
crosses themselves be painted, first, as a terror to evil spirits,
that they, having been driven from thence, may be terrified
when they see the Sign of the Cross, and may not presume to
enter there again; secondly, as a mark of triumph, for crosses
be the Banners of Christ, the Signs of His triumph. Crosses
therefore are with reason painted there, that it may be
made manifest that that place hath been subdued to the
dominion of Christ. For even in the pomp of an earthly
Sovereign it is customary when any city hath been yielded
for the imperial Standard to be set up in it. The twelve
lights placed before these crosses signify the twelve apostles-
who have illumined the whole world by the Faith of the
and whose teaching hath dispelled the darkness.
Crucified,
Wherefore the crosses on the four walls of the Church are
THE WOOD OF THE CROSS. 83
lighted np and anointed with chrism, because

the apostles
preaching the mystery of the Cross have by the Faith

of
Christ illumined the four quarters of the earth with know-
ledge, have lighted them up unto love, have
anointed them
unto purity of conscience, which is signified by the oil, and
unto the Savour of a good reputation, which, is signified by
the balsam."
Old legends tell us that after the expulsion from Eden
Adam begged for a seed of the tree of life. The request
was granted, we are told, though this involves a direct
1
contradiction of the Biblical narrative. The tree that
sprang from this seed was held in great honour,
and its
wood was preserved in Solomon's temple but the queen of;
Sheba, apparently wiser for once than the great king, told
him that He who should hereafter one day be slain upon
that tree would by His death cause the destruction of
Jerusalem. Solomon therefore, missing the obvious idea
of having ifc burnt to ashes, had it removed and deeply
buried in the earth. The Pool of Siloam sprang from it, and
owed its healing virtues to it; but when the hour of the
crucifixiondrew nigh, the trunk floated to the surface, and
as seemed a useful piece of timber, it was drawn ont of
it
the water, and was presently used for the cross !
According to Sir John Maundeville, who travelled much

over Europe and the Holy Land, and wrote his experiences
in the year 1371, the cross of our Lord was made of four
kinds of trees. The piece that went upright from the earth
to the head was of cypress, and the cross-piece was of palm ;
the stock that stood in the ground, to which the upright

was was of cedar, while the tablet bearing the
'fastened,
inscriptionwas of olive. The reason he gives is that the
Jews were of so vindictive a mind that they determined that
the victim of their hatred should hang upon the cross for
ever, therefore they chose cedar for the foot, because of its
lasting qualities ; the cypress was selected from its pleasant
"Behold, the man is become as one of Us, to know good and evil
1
:
and now, lest he put forth his hand, and take also of the tree of life,
and eat. and live for ever therefore the Lord God sent him forth from
:
the garden of Eden. . . And , He placed at the east of the garden

cherubims, and a flaming sword, ... to keep the way of the tree
of life" (Gen. iii.
22-24).
S4 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
of the results of dissolution the

fragrance, as a corrective ;
it is an emblem of victory, in
palm was chosen because sign
of their while the tablet was of olive, the emblem
triumph
;
of peace, because they held that Christ had made discord

and brought trouble to the nation, and that His death would
restore tothem political and religious concord.
If are to credit tradition, Isaac, in carrying the wood
we
for his sacrifice, held it in the form of a cross upon his
shoulders, and therefore the angel was sent to rescue him
from death while the widow of Sarepta, in carrying home
;
her two sticks, had them cross- wise, and thus received the
the restoration of her son to life,
blessing of the prophet,
FIG. 44.
and an inexhaustible supply of oil and meal : stories which,

despite their morbid and extravagant character, and their
wild impossibility, are at least a testimony to the honour
and virtues ascribed to the cross.
According to the old writers, the cross was found, deeply
buried in the ground, at Jerusalem, some three hundred
years after the crucifixion, or, to be as absolutely precise as
the legend, on May 3rd, A.D. 328. Hence this date was
commemorated as the "Invention of the Cross." The word,
of course, comes from the Latin invenio, to come
upon or
-discover, though most of our readers doubtless will be fully
prepared to accept the word in its more familiar sense, and
regard the whole tale as very much indeed of an invention.
THE HEALING POWER OF THE CROSS. 85
The discovery was made by St. Helena. All three crosses

were found, but that of our Lord was at once discriminated
from those of the thieves who were crucified with Him,
because a woman who was grievously sick was immediately
FIG.
restored to health on
touching it, while a dead body laid
upon it returned to life! The custom of
crossing one's self
was first practised
by the Christians about A.D.
110, thereby
to
distinguish themselves from the pagans around, and as
a sign of
recognition amongst themselves,
The crucifix is the most materialized of the symbols of

the cross, and often develops into a mere representation of
acute physical suffering, that, whatever aid to faith it may
be to some who gaze upon it, is dishonouring to the Saviour
in its repulsive dwelling upon one side alone, and that the
least, ofHis great sacrifice. The agony of the cross was
not the smart of bodily pain, but the burden of the sins of
the whole race of mankind.
. 46. Fio. 47.
The cross of St. Andrew, as in fig. 44, the badge of the

Order of the Thistle, is shaped like the letter X, though it
was not till the fifteenth century that it was so represented.
One may just notice in passing the grotesque contrast be-
tween the suffering saint of God, the lowly follower of the
Prince of peace, and the aggressive and self -asserting motto
that surronnds the whole.
Early tradition affirms that St. Andrew was crucified on
a cross of the ordinary form, but with his body extended
hoi'izontally. Like St. Peter, he deemed ifc far too great an
EARLY FORMS OF THE CROSS. 87
honour to be crucified as was his Lord and he therefore

;
gained from his persecutors the concession of being fixed

sideways, while St. Peter was crucified head downwards.
We may see this very well in fig. 45, " The Crucifixion of
St. Peter/' by Guido Reni, in the Vatican. Tradition has
it that this form of cross appeared in the sky to Achains,
king of the Scots, the night before a great battle with

Athelstane, and being victorious, he went barefoot to the
church of St. Andrew, and vowed to adopt his cross as the
national device. In Scottish heraldry St. Andrew's cross,
as we may see in theUnion Jack, is argent on a field azure.
Fio. 43.
Thecrocifixion of St. Peter has been a somewhat favourite

subject with painters. A
very good example may be seen
in the church of the Carmine at Florence,
by Filippino
Lippi, and another by Guido Reni, in the Vatican.
Very early examples of the cross form, as ia figs. 46, 47,
maybe seen in the sculptured Celtic crosses of Great Britain
and Ireland. They are ordinarily found thickly covered
with interlacing; but when figure subjects are introduced
the scenes and incidents are generally those of the Bible.
The cross at Clonmacnois, in Ireland, is called the Cross of
SYMBOLISM W CHRISTIAN ART.
the Scriptures, in an entry in tlie annals of Tigernach,
dated 1060. The monuments themselves are more or less
enters as a 'detail into
cruciform, and the cross also often
the ornament. Fig. 48 is the ancient Danish jewel known
as the Dagmar Cross.
Besides jfche cross we meet also with other forms that are
known as the Passion symbols. These are chiefly found in
the wood-carving and stained glass of the fifteenth cen-
as early as the tenth century they may
tnry, though even
occasionally be seen. Such early examples are however
distinctly exceptional.
Like many other things, they were
held, with more or less of reason, to "be of superstitious ten-
dency and at the time of the Reformation, and again during
;
the Commonwealth, a very clean sweep indeed was made of

all such objects, so that only comparatively few examples
now remain. 1
Such symbols include the ladder, the dice, seamless robe,
the cock, spear, sword, the thirty pieces of silver, 2 pincers,
hammer, pillar, scourge, reed and sponge, the nails, and
crown of thorns. Good examples may be seen at Bishop
Lydiard church in Somersetshire, S waifham church in
Norfolk, Mildenhall in Wiltshire, Horsham church in
1
The following document relating to the zeal of the Scottish Be-
formers a good illustration of this
is :
"
To our traist friendis, the Lairds of Arntilly and Kinvaid.
" Traist
friends, after maist harty commendacion, we pray yow faill
rot to pass incontinent to the kyrk of Dunkeld, and tak down the haill
images thereof, and bring furth to the kyrkzard, and burn thaym
oppinly. And siclyk cast down the altaris, and purge the kyrk of all
kynd of monuments of idolatrye. And this ye faill not to do, as ze
will do us singular empleseur; and so committis yow to the protection
of God. From Edinburgh, the xii of August, 1560.
11
Faill not, bot ze tak guid heyd that neither the dasks, windocks,
nor durris, be ony ways hurt or broken either glassin wark or iron wark,
"An. EEGYLL,
"JAMES STBWABT,
"RUTHVEN."
2 "
Titus, the son of Vespasian, laid siege about Jerusalem to overcome
the Jews, because they put our Lord to death without the emperor's
leave. And when he had won the city he burnt the temple, and beat
it down and all the city, and took the Jews and put to death one million
one hundred thousand of them ; and the others he put in prison, and
sold them to slavery, thirty for a penny, because they said they bought
Jesus for thirty pennies ; and he sold them cheaper, giving thirty for
one penny." Sir John Maundeville.
THE SYMBOLS OF THE PASSION. 89
Sussex, and elsewhere. They are but rarely found on

seals but they occur on that of the Guild of Corpus
;
Christi at Oxford, and on that of the Friars Minors at Cam-

bridge. They are sometimes surrounded with
the legend,
"
Vulnera quinque Dei sint medicina mini."
FIG. 49.
On an Italian picture frame containing a representation of

the scourging of our Lord we notice the introduction of the
following symbols two staves and the sword of St. Peter,
:
torch and lantern, bag of money, faggots for mating the fire
at which St. Peter stood and warmed himself, the crow-
ing cock, the pillar of scourging, two scourges, a chain for

binding the hands to the pillar, the seamless coat, the purple
robe, the reed-sceptre and thorny crown, the basin and
SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART,
ewer used by Pilate, the cross, the cup of wine mingled with
myrrh, the dice, the three nails, hammer, pincers, ladder,
sponge, lance, winding sheet, spices in a vase, the chalice,
and rope and chain for the deposition of the body from
the cross.
Pope Innocent VI. (1352-1362) affirmed in a decree that
"the lance and nails and other instruments of the Passion
are everywhere to be held in reverence of all Christ's faithful
FIG. 50.
people," and he instituted in their honour a religions festival,

the Feast of the Lance and Nails.
The finest existing series in England is on the bosses of
the vaulting in the choir of Winchester Cathedral, a roof
erec.ted by Bishop Fox in the early part of the sixteenth cen-
tury and a very good foreign example will be found on the

;
bridge of St. Angelo at Rome, where the colossal statues of

angels bear the various instruments of the Passion. These
symbols were often introduced on the vestments and hang-
THE SYMBOLS OF THE PASSION
ings thus in one of the old church inventories that supply

;
us with so much that is interesting and valuable, we find

"
the item ij steyned clothes for above and beneathe w* the
tokenis of the passyon in tyme of lent w ij curtyns accord-
fc
"
yng to ye same ; and many other references of like nature
might be added. In the picture of St. Dominic, by Zoppo,
in the National Gallery, we may see Christ in glory sur-
rounded by angels, each bearing one of the Passion symbols.
The chalice (fig. 49) and the crown of thorns (fig. 50) are
frequently introduced to the exclusion of all the other
Passion symbols, the latter especially being freely employed.
In the picture by De Bles in the National Gallery, entitled
"
. Mount Calvary," we see three angels receiving in chalices
the sacred streams flowing from the wounded body of the
1
Saviour.
The crown of thorns, though essentially connected with
the sufferings of our Lord, is also an attribute of St. Francis
of Assisi, St. Catherine of Siena, and one or two other less
well-known saints. It was a favourite subject for legend
in medieval times that certain men and women of peculiar
holiness, desirous to share the sufferings of Christ, were so
highly favoured of heaven as to be permitted to bear in their
own bodies the stigmata, the signs of the sufferings of their
crucified Lord, some bearing all the marks and others one
or more of them. Thus several bore the scar of the spear
wound in their sides, others the lacerations of the thorny
crown, and others again the marks in the palms of their
1
The necessary association of the chalice with the commemoration of
the Lord's Supper gives it naturally a prominent place. Those who
would care to see to what morbid lengths the human imagination may
go may turn to a book written some two hundred years ago and entitled,
44
The School of the Eucharist, established upon the miraculous respects
and acknowledgments, which beasts, birds, and insects have rendered to
the Holy Sacrament of the Altar, whence Catholicks may increase in
devotion towards this divine mystery, and hereticks find there their con-
fusion." The following headings to a few of the stories will give an idea
of the contents of this extraordinary volume Bees adore the Host, and
:
sing the Divine praises, dividing themselves into two quires A lamb of
bt. Coleta kneeled at the elevation
during the Masse A Spider revenges
an affront done to the SacramentAsses honour the Sacrament Ducks
are present at Masse The admirable vigilancy and devoires of a
dog in
honour of the Sacrament A pigeon brings to the Host to communicate
one newly converted to the faith.
hands or on their feet of the nail prints. The stigmatization

of St. Francis by the angel as he kneels in rapture on the
ground is a favourite subject with the older painters such :
marks, whoever may be the saint bearing them, are ordi-

narily surrounded by a halo of golden rays.
The corona radiata is a representation or suggestion of the
golden rays of Helios, a symbol of divine effulgence and of
51.
the favour of the gods, that on the deification of the emperor

took the place in later Rome of the earlier laurel-wreath
of mundane glory. -An example of this latter may be seen
in fig. 51, the laureated head of Tiberius. It has been
suggested that the crown of thorns was a mockery of the

radiate diadem assumed by the 'Roman emperors when they
arrogated to themselves both divine and human kingship.
While doubtless an instrument of physical suffering, it was
probably intended, like the purple robe, rather as an instru-
DESTRUCTION AT THE REFORMATION. 93
ment of moral suffering in scornful derision of the kingly

claim, and brutal parody of the imperial insignia. The first
asis at present known, of Christ
representation, so far
crowned with thorns will be found in the catacomb of
Prsetextatus in Borne, where the spiked and thorny wreath
encircling the head of the Saviour
has distinctly given to
it the radiate character of the classic and imperial nimbus-
like diadem.
In the frontispiece of the "Eikon Basilike," A.D. 1648, we see
the king, Charles I., taking in his hand a crown of thorns,
inscribed "Gratia." At his feet is the royal crown of
England, marked "Vanitas," while in the air above is a
"
starry crown marked Gloria." Beyond we have a land-
scape, in which a tree bears a conspicuous position in
palm
the foreground, while several other emblems are introduced
that we need not here dwell upon. Beneath is the "Ex-
planation of the Embleme," in two columns, one being
in
Latin and the other in English. The portion that at present
concerns us runs as follows :
11
That sp'endid but yet toilsom Crown
Begardlessly I trample down.
With joie I take this Crown of thorn,
Though sharp, yet easy to be born.
That heavenlie Crown already mine,
I view with eies of Faith divine.
I slight vain things and do embrace
Glorie, the just reward of grace."
We now proceed to consider the various symbols of mor-

tality.
At theEeformation a clean sweep was made of all pictures
suggestive of the old creed. In the third year of the reign
of Edward VI. an injunction was issued ordering all
pictures
in churches not hitherto disturbed to be either
destroyed
if movable or defaced if fixed and it became penal, by fine
;
or imprisonment, to possess, even privately,

pictures of this
forbidden nature. In 1558, after the accession of
Elizabeth,
the law was made still more
stringent, and the various
church officers were required to certify their obedience to
the law thus at Thorpe, in Lincolnshire, for instance, to
;
give but one example out of many, we find the following

"
entry Item, we had noe Roode nor other Imageis but that
:
were painted on the wall, and thei we defaced and oute." put
94 SYMBOLISM JN CHRISTIAN ART.
The coats of whitewash being altogether too frigid-looking,

and moreover presenting a tempting surface for renewed
decoration, it became necessary to see what could be sub-
stituted for the obliterated work, that should have teaching
valne, without being illegal, and we find that figures of Time

and Death were largely introduced.
The lapse of years, the damp that is often a conspicuous
"
feature in old churches, and more especially restoration,"
as it is termed, have played havoc with these ancient wall
paintings; bat in an old poem by Cowper, entitled "An

Elegy wrote in a Country Church," we get many interesting
details as to the furniture and arrangements of a village
church. We quote three of the stanzas- that bear on our
subject.
" Tho'
Painting her Italian Pencil here
Has never dip'd, yet on that Western Wall
Two formidable Powers allied appear,
Which shew Man's Eise, his Progress, and his Fall.
To ev'ry Act of Duty to persuade,

On these two Forms tie Preacher turns his Looks,
Points to thy Scythe, Time, Death, thy Spade,
or,
And makes mere painted Stones affecting Books.
When from God's Word he proves that Time shall cease,

And Death must to Eternity consign,
He to the Eour'-G-la^s points, and cries :
'
Heaven's Peace
" '
To gain, thisHour alone is truly thine !
Time is ordinarily represented as an old man, naked or

but slightly clothed, and quite bald, with the exception of
" "
a single lock of hair on the forehead. In King John
"
Shakespeare calls him "that bald sexton, Time and we are ;
4<
allfamiliar with the occasional necessity of taking Time by
the forelock." In his hand he holds a scythe, or in one hand
a scythe and in the other an hour-glass, In an engraving
by Bernard, executed in 1560, Time has scythe and crutches,
and in some few cases he is represented as winged.
" Gather
ye rosebnds while ye may,
Old Time is still a-flying." HEBBICK.
Though in later days Time and Death ha ve been associated

together, and the symbols they bear freely interchanged, in
earlier days they were never represented as com- necessary
panions. Time was associated with ideas of growth and
ALL-CONQUERING DEATH. 95
rather than with destruction and decay. Time in the

life,
Greek Church was young and unbearded, while Death wa$
a noble and angelic form, as in the Campo Santo at Pisa,
and it was centuries before it changed to the ghastly skeleton
that it afterwards became.
In the later figures of Death the skeleton forms are often

horribly badly drawn, the bones incorrect in form, the arti-
culations with no vestige of anatomical
accuracy. So gro-
tesquely horrible indeed are the forms, that it has even been
FIG. 52.
suggested that in many cases the bad drawing was not the
result of ignorance, but of a deliberate intention to make the
forms more repulsive.
In figs. 52, 53, 54, we have good illustrations of this
mediaeval treatment of the subject. Such
drawings, illus-
trating the all-conquering power of Death, are yery com-
monly to be met with. We give but three of these the :
warrior with uplifted sword, himself

succumbing to the fate
that many others have suffered at his hands the student
;
poring over his books, mocked by the gift of the Elixir Vitse
at the hands of Death and the wealthy dame, who awakens

;
suddenly to the fact that her life of ease and dignity is over,
and that her next step is to the edge of the grave.
The Dance of Death was a favourite medieval subject.
Well-known examples may be seen at Basel, Lucerne, and
elsewhere. In these we often see the scythe and hourglass
attributed to Death. In Holbein's Dance of Death more than
half of the skeleton
figures have one or other or
both of these
emblems assigned to them ;
and we may see the scythe again
FIG, 53.
"
in the work of Orcagna, in Titian's Triumph of Death,"
and in many illustrations in the old MSS, Figures of Death
as a skeleton are frequently introduced in the sepulchral
brasses of the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries and on
;
the older gravestones in many churchyards one finds, a free

use made of skulls, cross-bones, and other such-like emblems
of mortality. Much of the religious writing of that period
busied itself in representing the weakness, sinfulness, and
misery of man, and men were goaded heavenwards by fiery
denunciations and glowing descriptions of the torments of
EMBLEMS OF MORTALITY. 97
the unregenerate. 1 Even the gentle Jeremy Taylor made the

key-note of his "Holy Dying," "He that would die well must
always look
"
for Death, every day knocking at the gates of
the grave ;
and the cross-bones on the tombstones are but
one indication the more of the prevalent tone of mind.
On many of the rings and other personal adornment of
this period these emblems of mortality are freely introduced.
The watch of Mary Queen of Scots, for example, was in the
form of a skull. On the forehead was a small figure of
PIG. 54.
Death standing between a palace and a

cottage, and around
itthe passage from Horace, " Palida MOTS
sequo pulsat pede
pauperum tabernas regurnque turres."
* "
All Adam*s offspring through his sinne are made
sinfull, not by-
imitation only, but by propagation,
receiving the contagion of sin and
uncleannesse before they behold the light of this life.*' " Man is
now
spoiled of freedome of will, and made "
" Out of subject to miserable bondage
the corrupt nature of man proceeded nothing but what is
damnable." C^LYIN.
H
On a mediaeval trencher, with device of a skull, we find the

lines ;
'
Content y*lelfe wth thyn eftat :
And fende no poore wight from f gatt :
For why this councell I y e geue :
"
To learne to die and die to lyue ;
and in another example, with the same emblem of mor-

tality, the inscription :
" Truste not this worlde thou wooeful

wighte :
But lett thy ende be in thy fighte."
It was customary in the Middle Ages to provide richly

decorated palls to be nsedat the burial of members of various
guilds, and some of these still survive the ravages of Time.
In one of these the general black surface is crossed by broad
bands of white, and on these are embroidered skulls holding
thigh bones in their mouths, scapulae, ossa innominata, and
other portions of the skeleton. Rings too were commonly,
when of a memorial character, made in the form of a skeleton,
or a skull was placed where we should ordinarily look for
the stone or other adornment. Luther used to wear a gold
ring with a small death's head in enamel, and the inscription
16
Mori ssepe cogita." This ring is still preserved at Dresden.
" "
It will be remembered too that in Love's Labour Lost
"
Biron compares the face of Hplofernes to a Death's face
in a ring/'
We remember seeing in the " God's acre" at Basel a striking
" "
.
commentary on the truth of the stanza in the noble Elegy
of Gray :
"The boast of heraldry, the pomp of power,

And all that beauty, all that wealth e'er gave,
Await alike the inevitable hour :
The paths of glory lead but to the grave."
On one of the tombstones the armorial bearings of the

person interred were all duly set forth in their heraldic
significance, but behind the shield was carved the figure of
1
Death, and his bony hands had seized the shield with all
itstestimony of earthly rank and dignity, and had torn it
"
apart from top to bottom. Sic transit gloria mundi."
1 " An
uncouth, hideous thing, nothing but bones."
"
Mesh being turned to dust, and bones to sticks." George Herbert,
EMBLEMS OF MORTALITY. 99
The idea appeared to us a very striking one, as we came

suddenly upon it in the solitude of this home of
the dead.
That the high-born relatives of the deceased should thus
admit the solemn truth for him and for them was perhaps
still more striking as poor humanity ordinarily clings to
the last to all such distinctions, as we may so abundantly
see in
'
The marble tombs that rise on high,
Whose dead in vaulted arches lie,
"Whose pillows swell with sculptured stones,
Arms, angels, epitaphs, and bones :
These, all the poor remains of state,
1
Adorn the rich, or praise the great."
"
Cowley, in a well-known passage, tells us how beauty,
and strength, and wit, and wealth, and power," all flourish
and joy in their pre-eminence awhile, but the end is the
same after all ;
for
"
11
Alas ! Death mows down all with an impartial hand
as the reaper with his swinging; scythe and steady, onward

step brings to one common fall the useless and noxious weeds,
the gay and brilliant blossoms, and the ripe heads of nodding
corn.
Other familiar symbols of death are the broken column,
and the urn. 2 Both were introduced at the period of the
Renaissance, when anything of classic association was wel-
comed the urn of course referred to the Roman custom of
;
preserving the ashes after cremation.

St. Jerome and Mary Magdalene are ordinarily represented
as having a skull in their hands or in close proximity to
them; while St. Eutropius has his cleft with a sword, St.
Francis of Sales and St. Catherine of Siena are often repre-
sented as bearing their hearts in their hands and we may ;
in like manner find SS. Winifred, Valeria, and Regula, Dio-

nysius, Proculus, and Piat carrying their heads about with
them* The famous healing spring or holy well in Wales is
said to mark the spot where St. Winifred's head fell on her
decapitation.
3
PARNELL :
Night Piece on Death."
2 "
Can storied urn or animated bust
Back to its mansion call the fleeting breath ?
" GEAY.
loo SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
The dust and ashes of the penitent are equally symbols of

death.
" Can honour's voice
provoke the silent dust,
"
Or flattery soothe the dull, cold ear of death ?
The fi-equent Biblical use of the idea amply justifies the

association. When
man, made in the image of God, fell
from his high estate, he learned the sad and solemn truth,
"
dust thou art, and unto dust shalt thou return." Job in
his misery exclaims, "Thou hast made me as the clay: wilt
"
Thou bring me into dust again ? and elsewhere, " Now
shall I sleep in the dust: and thou shalt seek me in the
"
morning, but I shall not be while the writer of Eccle-
;
siastes, dwelling on the vanity of all earthly things, sums

up, "then shall the dust return to the earth": for, as he
elsewhere writes, "All are of the dust, and all turn to dust
aâin." The psalmist sings, "All that go down into the
dust shall bow before Him," for death is but the threshold
of immortality: "Mors janua vitae." Therefore Isaiah
" Awake and
writes, sing, ye that dwell in the dust for :
"
the earth shall yield her dead the glimmering light of
the dawn that bursts into the full glory of the triumphant
words of the New Testament : "Now is Christ risen from
the dead, and become the firstfruits of them that slept.
For since by man came death, by man came also the resur-
rection of the dead. .For this corruptible must put
. .
on incorrnption, and this mortal must put on immortality."

In this radiant vision of coming bliss the Master's gracious
welcome is all in all; and in the light of that greeting
skulls and cross-bones, scythes and urns, fade away for ever
and ever.
CHAPTEB VI.
The Sonl of Man as & Little Child Naked or clothed The Campo
Santo at Pisa Soul as Serpent or Bird Weighing of Souls in the
Balance Butterfly Symbol Elijah Depicted as a Type of the
Resurrection The Torch of Life Angels Their Ministry to
God and to the Saints The Mystical Vision of Ezekiel The
Orders of Angels The Angel of the Mighty Will of God The
Fallen Angels The Tempter The Mediaeval Conception of Hell
The Benaissance Hell Satan as the Dragon Dragons and Dragon-
SlayersSatan as the Serpent The Serpent as a Talisman The
Deaf Adder Serpent as Emblem of Immortality of Eternity
Serpent Worship The Ophites The Serpents of Goodness and of
Evil Gnostic Gems The Krishna of Hindu Mythology.
THE soul of man is usually symbolically depicted as a little

child coming out of the month of the dying- person, and good
1
and bad angels are generally present to receive it, and to

contest its possession. It is sometimes naked, at other times
clothed and robed. Naked, for naked came man into the
world, and stripped of all must he return to Mother Earth ;
" for when he dieth he shall l When
carry nothing away."
the soul is clothed, it typifies the robe of Christ's righteous-
ness.
" "
Clothed upon," as St. Paul has it, that mortality
1 '
might be swallowed up of life. Sometimes both soul and

body, the ascending spirit and the dying saint, are repre-
sented with the nimbus ; while in other examples the soul
issues as a little black imp or fiend.
In the Campo Santo at Pisa will be found a wonderful
series of paintings, that up till the last few years have been
assigned to Orcagna, though it is possible that the ascription
is in fault. Whoever the artist may have been, he was a
man of great artistic power and of vivid imagination. In
the " Triumph of Death," gay and festive groups of ladies
and cavaliers sit beneath the orange trees and amuse them-
1
Ps. xlix. 17 ; Eccles. v. 15 ; 1 Tim. vi. 7.
101
1
selves with songs and music, while Death approaches with

rapid flight and menacing scythe. At his feet are already
a great host of the departed, some wearing the kingly crown
or the coronet of the princess, some the robes and hat of the
cardinal, or the panoply of steel of the knight. The souls
of these, as they rise, fold their hands in prayer, or shrink
back in horror as they seethe fiends awaiting them. On
the one hand, bright angels ascend to heaven with the souls
of some, while others are dragged to a fiery mountain crater,
and flung headlong into the raging flames, In another por-
tion of the picture a crowd of beggars, the maimed, the
blind, and the halt, with outstretched arms call upon Death
to end their sorrows but their appeal goes unheeded.
;
In another of these wonderful pictures, " The Last

Judg-
ment," the trumpet sounds, and the dead emerge from the
earth, clad in the appropriate dress of their former condition ;
and on their rising the angels divide them into two great
companies, the redeemed and the lost.
We remember to have seen an example in Byzantine art
where the soul issues as a serpent from the mouth of the
dying man. It is sometimes also represented as a bird. In
one of the ancient Egyptian funeral tablets in the British
Museum, the spirit of a man is represented as a bird having
a human head it is being fed with divine food
;
by the
goddess Neitk out of the sacred tree in which she stands.
Elsewhere on a mummy-wrapping we find the dead man
pictured, swathed for his burial, while above the lifeless
body hovers his soul in form of a bird (see fig. 55) having
human head and hands. It bears in one hand the hiero-
1
glyphic for breath, and in the other the Tau, the hieroglyphic
for life. On
another mummy case a man is depicted as
suddenly falling dead to the ground, while above him stands
another erect and with outstretched arms. The mortal man
is painted red; the
spiritual man, his risen soul, is blue, the
colour of the sky. In this
example, the two figures are the
same size, it is the same being, in spite of the change that
has come over him but in Christian art
;
examples of this
1
The Egyptfa 11 symbol for breath is the sail of a vessel : a
happy and
expressive idea, as the sail is inert and useless till quickened by the
breath of the wind, but
springs beneath its influence into movement and
service.
WEIGHING OF THE SOUL. 103
the bold figure

identity of size are very rarely encountered,
of the Saviour in his discourse to Nicodemus, "ye must be
born again," naturally suggesting the infant form.
The weighing of the souls in the balance by the archangel
Michael is a favourite mediceval subject, and was often
depicted on the walls of the churches as a sermon and a
Very frequently evil spirits cling to the scale,2
1
warning.
and endeavour by their weight to depress it in their favour.
FIG. 55.
The Egyptians entertained the belief that the actions of the

departed were solemnly weighed before Osiris, and the final
condition of the soul determined by the preponderance of
the good or the evil. The Babylonians probably held a
1 "
On the point of separation of the soul from the body, the good and
bad angels come, and the merits and demerits of the man are weighed.
The good angel alleges and recites the man's good works, the bad angel
calling to memory all the evil ones. And if indeed the bad preponderate,
so that he departed in mortal sin, immediately the soul is delivered to
the tormentors." St. GREGOBY, A.D. 604.
2 "Let me be weighed in an even balance, that God may Joiow mine
integrity" (Job xxxi. 6).
similar belief, RO that the mysterious writing on the wall

Belshazzar would appear to
during the impious feast of
them the presagenot only of national, but of eternal loss.
**
God hath numbered thy kingdom, and finished it. Thou
art weighed in the balances, and found wanting." With
that awful verdict against him, "in that night was Bel-
shazzar the king slain," slain by his country's foes, while he
was yet under the ban of the 'Divine displeasure, and in all
that made for righteousness found wanting.
The souls of men are weighed too before Brama in Hindu
art, and by the Muhammadans the archangel Gabriel is
"
called the soul- weigher."
The butterfly as a symbol of the soul is but rarely seen in
early work; for though the Greek
word for the butterfly and
the spirit of life is the same psyche yet, owing to the
imperfect idea of all pre-Christian races as to the immor-
tality of the soul, much of the force of the symbol was in
early days lost. Even in later times, owing to the want of
study of the lower forms of nature, the analogy between

the spirit of life and the butterfly first appearing as a
creeping, toiling caterpillar, and then, its span of existence
apparently over, burying itself in the earth a seemingly life-
less chrysalis, yet finally at the appointed season the perfect
creature soaring above its tomb into the sunlight, was not
perceived.
" Yet wert thou once a
worm, a thing that crept
On the bare earth, then wrought a tomb, and slept.
And such is man soon from his cell of clay
1
To burst a seraph in the blaze of day."
In some few Greek examples the butterfly is represented

hovering over the dead, and in comparatively modern work
it may not
uncommonly be found among us, "We have
already referred to the GottesaTcer at Basel as supplying a
striking piece of symbolic teaching and we remember to
;
have there seen also, sculptured on one of the gravestones,

the shrouded chrysalis and above it the soaring butterfly.
As a symbol of the ascension of Christ, Elijah borne to
heaven in the chariot of fire occurs often in early work.
Many examples may be seen on the tombs of the martyrs of
the early Christian Church.
The torch of life, though originally a pagan conception, is
THE MINISTRY OF AXGELS. 105
occasionally introduced into Christian art, and, naturally, is

more especially found where the work is Renaissance in
treatment, and therefore influenced by the old classic ideas
and forms.
Angels, the ministers and messengers of God, are abun-
dantly met with in ancient, mediaeval, and modern art, either
in attendance
upon the first Person of the Trinity, or the
Saviour, or ministering to the needs of the saints. Often
they are hymning the praises of God or playing on musical
instruments. In the National Gallery, for instance, in the
" "1
picture by Filippo Lippi of the Madonna and Holy Child
attendant angels are playing on the lute and the violin and ;
in old churches we often find

paintings or carvings of the
heavenly host with various instruments of music, as though
taking part in the devotions of earth. In Fra Angelico's
beautiful picture in the National
Gallery of the risen Lord
surrounded by angels and saints, the devotion of service of
the angels forms by far the greater
portion of the picture.
As Dr. Alexander in his book, " The Divinity of our Lord,"
"
excellently observes : Christianity is not a temporary influ-
ence, to be absorbed into pure theism. The religion of
heaven, like that of earth, is Christianity," statement con- A
firmed in the wondrous vision vouchsafed to the worn exile
"
of Patmos : I heard the voice of
many angels round about
the throne : and the number of them was ten thousand times
ten thousand, and thousands of thousands
saying with a ;
loud voice, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain to receive

power, and
riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and
glory,ând blessing."
And then the grand confirmatory cry
in unison of all creation, of
"every creature which is in
heaven, and on the earth, and under the earth, and such as
are in the sea," bursts with one accord into the
thrilling
anthem of devotion, " Blessing, and honour, and
glory, and
power, be unto Him that sitteth upon the throne, and unto
the Lamb for ever ?tnd ever."
Of the ministry of angels to the saints we find abundant
examples in art and legend. Thus to quote but a few : by
angelic protection St. Hugh is defended from the
lightning,
while an angel holds the
plough for St. Isidore during his devo-
tions; an angel makes clothing for St.
Homobonus, while
1
"Let all the angels of God worship Him " (Heb. i.
6).
io6 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
another sings to St. Nicholas of Tolentinum, and yet another

celestial visitor brings store of heavenly food to St. Congall.
We ordinarily associate the idea of white raiment with the
did not by any means confine
angels ; but the early painters
1
themselves to this, as we may readily see in any collection
of the works of the old masters. They are often represented
as a bright flame of fire, two or three inches high,
having
rising from just above
the forehead. This may be very well
seen in a decorative panel in the National Gallery by Are-
tino, and in several other pictures in
the collection. They
are almost invariably winged, ordinarily with two wings, but
sometimes with six: these are expressive of swiftness
and of service.
alacrity Sometimes they are standing upon
flaming and winged wheels, forms suggested by the mystical
2
vision of 'EzekieL At times they are without bodies in- :
corporeal intelligences.
The orders of angels, as represented in art, would appear
to have been suggested by a treatise, "De Hierarchia
Caelesti." St. Thomas Aquinas gives them as follows:
"Seraphim, Cherubim, Throni, Dominationes, Virtutes,

Potestates, Principatus, Archangeli, Angeli."
" But over the 3

hye desse in pryncypall place
Where the sayd thre Zynges sat crowned all
The best hallynge 4 hanged as reason was.
Whereon were wrought the is orders angellicall,
Dyvyded in thre ierarchyses, not cessynge to call
Saactus, sanctus, sanctus, blessyd be the Trvnite,
Dominus Deus Sabaoth, thre persons in one De^te."
In the Greek Church, St. John the Baptist, while clad in

garment of camel hair, is winged, since that Church translates
u
literally the text, Behold, I will send My messenger (angel),
1 " Les Saints

Anges ont gen&ralment partout la couleur blanche :
cependant, le missal de Paris engageait a se servir, aux fetes de ces
esprits celestes, de la couleur jaune, ainsi qu'a I'eglise metropolitaiae.

II en fut de meme au diocese de Lisieux. Serait-ce un symbole de l'e*clat
de leur gloire ? Mais le rouge a Laon, a propos des Saints
pourqupi
Anges ce qui est difficile, a justifier. Voudrait-on y voir le feu ardent
:
de leur z&le pour la gloire de Dieu ?" MAIAIS.

2 Ezek.
i., also iii. 13 and the greater part of x,
3 The high dais.
*
Tapestry hanging round the hall.
ANGELIC MESSENGERS. 107
and he shall prepare the way before Me," l He often has

two heads, one m
the ordinary position, and a second, also
his own, borne in his hand in a basin Christ too, as the !
bearer of reconciliation between God and man, is called in

the Greek Church " the
Angel of the Mighty Will," result-
ing in a wonderful creation of Greek art, which in the
symbolism of the West has no parallel.
Ifo
subject perhaps has been more frequently painted than
the Annunciation. The
celestial messenger is the great arch-
2
angel Gabriel, who
stands in the immediate presence of
God. The only other archangel mentioned in the canonical
books of the Bible is Michael (Jude9); but in the Book of
Knoch we read of the four great archangels, Michael, Uriel,
Kaphael, and Gabriel, while in Tobit xii. 15 reference is
4i
made to the seven holy angels, which present the
prayers
of the saints,
and which go in and out before the glory of the
Holy One," the speaker being Raphael, Seven, as we have
already seen, has been accepted as the number symbolic of
perfection and completion; and thus both in artistic and
literary wort, the great "angels of the presence" are ordi-
narily seven in number. To give but one illustration, when
Milton introduces, in "Paradise Lost," the
Uriel, archangel
it is as
" one of
the seven
Who in God's presence, nearest to His throne,
Stand readj at command."
For the first four centuries we do not find in the catacombs

or elsewhere
any representation of the devil, except as the
serpent, the tempter of Eve. Later on the fallen angels
and their leader have
ordinarily been depicted with every
accessory of grotesque horror. The Satan of Milton is a
grand conception ; but at the other end of the scale we may
place the Satan of the "Ingoldsby Legends," a Pan-like
creature with hoofs and horns and tail and it is in some
;
such guise as the latter that he

generally figures in the art
of the Middle
Ages. In the illustration of a fourteenth
century missal before us, the mouth has great protruding
tusks that curl to the eyes; the ears are
upward nearly long
1
Mai. iii. 1 ; Matt. xi. 10 Mark i. 2 Luke vii. 27.
; ;
2
Luke i.
19, 26 see also Dan. viii. 16 and ix. 21,
;
io8 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
and pointed. At the shoulders and the thighs are other

heads, from the months of which issue the arms and legs
of the figure, the- arms terminating in bears* claws, the legs
1
in eagles talons ; the body, open at the waist, exposes a nest
of serpents darting forth and hissing in fury, while the rest
of the figure is covered with large scales. He is often repre-
sented also with wide-spreading draconic pinions.
The gnrgojles on old churches often represent evil spirits.
They are supposed to be flying from the sacred building, and
great faith was held in the church bells as a protection
against evil "The reason for consecrating
and ringing bells,"
" that by their sound the
says a mediaeval writer, is this :
faithful may be mutually cheered on towards their reward ;
that the devotion of faith may be increased in them that ;
their fruits of the field, their minds, and their bodies may be
defended; that the hostile legions and all the snares of the
enemy may be repulsed ;
that the rattling hail, the whirl-
winds, and the violence of tempests and lightning may be
restrained ; the deadly thunders and blasts of wind held
off; the Spirits of the storm, and the Powers of the air,
overthrown."
The Tempter is represented as being driven away by the
sign of the cross made by St. Hilarion as chained by St.
;
Norbert; as driven off by a large stone by St. Oswald; as

seized with hot pincers by St. Dunstan as trampled under
;
foot by SS. Theodore, Cyriacus, and Euphrasia as cast by ;
SS. Zeno, Hermes, and Hidulphus out of one possessed.

The histories of the saints, and the pictorial representations
in old work of their lives, would yield numerous other illus-
trations of the assaults of Satan and his defeats.
"While sometimes represented as of colossal proportions,
the evil spirit is more commonly given the stature of a man,
and occasionally is found much more diminutive. Thus in
some old MSS. he is represented as tempting David and other
good men in the form of a little black figure sitting upon
their shoulders and whispering suggestions of evil in their
ears; and often in representations of Christ casting out
devils, the evil spirit issues in diminutive form from the
mouth of the demoniac.
The Greek Hades, the Scandinavian Hella, originally the
unseen world, has gradually become, in popular idea, the
place of torment, the kingdom of Satan. As merely the
FIG. 56.
no SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
invisible state, it is referred to inMatthew xi. 23, xvi, 18 ;
Acts ii. 31 Revelation i. 18 and several other passages.

27, ; ;
As the place of punishment, it is referred to in Matthew T.

22, x. 28, xviii. 9 Mark ix. 43 Luke xii. 5 James iii. 6 and
; ; ; ;
elsewhere. In the original these two quite distinct meanings

are represented by two entirely different words.
Hell is generally, "with the medieval painters and sculptors,
the yawning mouth of a huge monster, breathing smoke and
flames (as in fig. 56), or a large caldron set on flames, into
either of which attendant spirits hurl their victims; and
often, with a grim touch of humour and bitterness of satire,
we find some of these with kingly crowns, or wearing the
cowl of the monk
or the mitre of the bishop. It is curious
to note that when the Spaniards
entered the City of Mexico,
they found that the doorway of the temple of the god of the
air was made like the mouth of a serpent or dragon, painted,
"
to quote one of their chronicles, with foule and devilish
gestures, with great gums and teeth wrought, which was a
thing to feare those who should enter in thereat, and espe-
ciallythe Christians, unto whom it represented very hell,
with that ugly face and those monstrous teeth."
Representations of the kingdom of Satan are very numerous
in the Middle Ages, though in earlier work there is no sug-
gestion either of hell or of evil spirits. These mediaeval wall-

paintings in the churches probably suggested to Spenser the
lines,
" He shewed him
painted in a table plaine,
The damn&d ghosts
that doe in torments waile,
And thousand feends that doe them endless paine
With fire and brimstone, which for ever shall remaine."
It will be remembered how Dante's fellow citizens re-
garded him, such was the power of his poetry, with awe, as
"
the man who had seen hell." 1
The Renaissance idea of hell may be very well seen in
1 "
Vermes et tenebrse, flagellum, frigus et ignis, Demonis aspectus."
Thus in Dante's " Inferno " Charon says :
" I come
To take you to the other shore acrpss,
Into eternal darkness, there to dwell
In fierce heat and in ice."
Milton in like manner in "Paradise Lost," writes of
THE CONFLICT WITH THE DRAGON. in
" "
the Last Judgment of Michael Angela, where Charon is
near
landing the lost souls on the farther side of the Styx,
to the mouth of a dismal cavern, clearing his boat of its
of his oar.
unwilling passengers by the vigorous swinging
"
In the Rabbinical book, Bab. Berachoth," we are told
that, if we could but discern the evil hosts around us, no one
could withstand the shock; for every man has ten thousand
at his right hand, and one thousand at his left. Wier, in his
book, "De Proestigiis Dsemonum," is content with a total
altogether of lost spirits of 7,405,926.
Satan is most commonly symbolised as the dragon or as
the serpent : the serpent representing the evil spirit as the
wily tempter that first betrays to sin, the dragon as the
devouring monster that remorselessly consumes those that
have become its victims. "When lust hath conceived, it
bringeth forth sin; and sin, when it is finished, bringeth
1
forth death."
The dragon and the dragon-slayer (fig. 57) appear
in
many and form the subject of countless legends.
creeds
"While the story of the conflict varies with race and country,
the legends of classic days, such as that of Perseus and
Andromeda, the still older struggles carved on the slabs
of Persepolis and Nineveh, the stories narrated around the
camp fires to the awed rings of Eastern nomads, or listened

to with glistening eyes or rapt attention in the nurseries
of England, the great mass of legend that in the Middle
Ages clustered around the names of God's faithful saints,

the local traditions of every land, all point to the fatal
presence of some evil principle, and record the ultimate
triumph of good. Beneath the mass of everchanging fable
we find at length the one foundation to all, the deadly strife
between two great antagonistic principles.
The evil spirit is described in the Book of the Revelation
" The bitter change

Of fierce extremes, extremes by change more fierce,
From beds of raging fire to starve in ice."
And Shakespeare, in "Measure for Measure," has a similar idea in

the lines,
"
To bathe in fiery floods, or to reside
In thrilling regions of thick-ribbed ice."
1
James i. 15.
H2 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART,
"
as that great dragon." The conflict between St. Michael
and the dragon is a favourite subject in art. may seeWe
it, for instance, in Fra Carnovale's picture in the National
Gallery; while the combat of our own national saint with

the monster may be seen in the same collection in the works
of Memling, Tintoretto, Pisanello, and Domenichino, and in
old church carvings : as, for example, at Pitsford in North-
amptonshire, at Moreton Valence and at Euarden, Gloucester-

shire, Brinsop, Herefordshire, and Fordington in Dorsetshire;
in a brass at Elsyng church, Norfolk, 1 and in considerable
profusion on tiles, stained glass, and so forth.
FIG. 57.
Besides the religions and artistic association of the

dragon
George, we find St. John of Rheims
with St. Michael and St.
and St. Cyriacus represented in art with a
dragon held en-
chained. SS. Longinus and Servatius also have one at their
sides. St. Theodore is
accompanied by a dragon having
three heads, while St. G-ermanus of Auxerre has one with
seven heads. St. Margaret is
represented thrusting a staff
1
In another of our books, " Mythland," we have
gone at considerable
length into dragon lore and legend, and do not therefore repeat what
we have elsewhere written. We would also refer the reader interested
in Si George to an excellent
paper in Archaoloffia, at
commencing 243
p.
in the second part of vol. xlix.
TH DRAGON" AND THE SERPENT. 113
into the jaws of a dragon at her feet, while St. Romain has
the monster bound with his girdle and captive at his feet.
As we have not sufficient space, or possibly sufficient incli-
nation, to give at full length the various legends,
we are
content to give but one as an illustration of all.
St, Romain was a bishop, and it is said that in his time
a frightful winged dragon devastated the neighbourhood
of Rouen, and indulge^, after the approved fashion of
such monsters, in sundry feasts on human beings, etc. St.
Romain determined to rid the country of this scourge, and
after many snares and traps had been set and laid in vain,
he resolved to go in person to the forest-haunt of the
monster, taking with him two companions to assist him
in the chivalric deed. As they drew near the spot, one of
his colleagaes fled at the sight of the dragon but the other, ;
taking the girdle of the holy man, approached the monster.

At the sight of the girdle it became " as gentle as a lamb,"
and submitted to be bound therewith, and was thus con-
ducted to the prelate, who caused it to be taken into the
market-place at Rouen and publicly burnt. Its ashes were
then thrown into the river Seine. One cannot help feeling,
on reading the story, that while the bishop gets most of the
credit, his companion took most of the risk.
Another subject in which the dragon is represented is in
connexion with John, in allusion to some poison which
St.
was once given to him
to drink, but from which he took no
hurt, as, on placing the cup to his lips, the poison rose out of
the vessel in the visible form of a dragon.
The Biblical account of the temptation and fall of Eve
naturally makes the serpent a peculiarly appropriate symbol
of Satan. As early as the eighth century it was supposed
that the serpent that beguiled Eve had the face and head of
a woman,
" A cherub's face, a reptile all the rest
"
;
and we therefore often find it so represented in art. In a

pic-
ture, for instance, by Ercole di Giulio Grandi, in the National
Gallery, the tempter has a woman's head and bust, and long
1
flowing hair, though the form is otherwise serpentine ; the
1
Albertus saith that the hair of a
woman, taken at some seasons and
*|
laid in the ground, will become venomous serpents. Which some have
supposed to befall that Sex because of the ancient familiarity it had at
first with that accursed Serpent, " GUILUM.
I
H4 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
head of the' monster and of Eve are on a; level, and face to

" "'
face. Wesee this again in the Fall by Filippino Lippi,
in the church of S. M. del Carmine at Florence though here
;
the human face so small, and the writhing, serpentine con-

is
volutions so evident, that the woman's face, instead of being

an attraction and a snare, is but an added horror. see We
thehuman head again in the work of Pietro d'Orvieto in
theCampo Santo at Pisa, and in many early illuminated
MSS. Fig. 58, a sufficiently ghastly example, though the
FIG. 58.
ugliness is probably less intentional than indicative of want

"
of artistic skill, is from the Ortus Sanitatis," a Latin herbal
printed first in the year 1491. From a praiseworthy desire
to make his book as comprehensive as possible, the author
starts from the Garden of Eden, and gives us this illus-
tration, the arbor vit&, the tree of life, with its golden
fruit and beguiling tempter in the midst. The arms of the
Fruiterers* Company are a tree having a serpent coiled
round it and on either side Adam and Eve.
In one of these old MSS. we meet with the passage, " Quod-
THE SERPENT AS A SYMBOL 115
dam ergo genus serpentis sibi dyabolns eligebat, qui cum

erectus gradiebatur et caput virgineum habebat." It is known
"
fi*om very similar passages in the Historia Scholastica" and
elsewhere, that this belief was held at least as early as the
eighth century: we have therefore both pictorial
and literary
proof of the antiquity of the idea.
Even Michael Angelo,
one of the later and greater men, an artist capable of the
grandest idealizations, still conforms to the old treatment in
his representation in the Sistine Chapel of the Fall of Man,
though his feeling for beauty and his art-power enabled

him to combine the human and the serpentine more plea-
singly than in the work of the earlier men.
While the
betraying spirit is still
beguiling Eve, the angel of the
drawn sword hovers above ready to drive out of the Garden
of Eden the guilty progenitors of our fallen race, a grand
and suggestive addition to the work, and emblematic of the
swift punishment that followed upon the fall.
On a medal struck in 1605 to commemorate the discovery
of the Gunpowder Plot, we see on the obverse a snake gliding
amongst liliesand roses, while on the reverse is the name of
Jehovah set amidst a glory of rays.
On a Greek vase in the British Museum we have the
daughters of Hesperus gathering the golden apples, while a
serpent coiled round the tree appears to be guarding them,
thus strikingly suggesting some far away echo amidst pagan
fancies of the Bible story. The serpent is often represented
as winged ;
but winged or wingless, footed or purely serpen-
tine, with one head or a dozen, with false woman face or
stony ophidian glare, it coils round the tree of life full of
malignant subtlety and evil power, the sad symbol of enmity
to good and God.
" Some flow'rets of Eden ye still inherit,

But the trail of the serpent is over them all."
l
The winged serpent was probably suggested by he pas-

"
sage in Isaiah that refers to the fiery flying serpent," and
the additional attribute of swiftness would be
accepted and
welcomed as one feature the more of terror, an added horror
bestowed on the loathsome crawling reptile, as a further
1
MOOBE, "Paradise and the Peri."
n6 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
means of compassing the destruction of its victims. The

winged serpent is represented in the Egyptian wall-paintings
many centuries before its appearance in Christian art.
"
In the Book of the Revelation Satan is the dragon, that
old serpent, called the Devil, which deceiveth the whole
world." Various texts refer to the subtlety of the serpent,
to its deadly poison, to its dangerous lurking in the dust;
and only twice do we find anything commendatory: in the
first instance, when the brazen serpent gave life to those who
looked upon it, and was thus made the type of the great
Saviour of mankind ; and, secondly, when the righteous were
instructed to combine the wisdom of the serpent with the
harmlessness of the dove. Even here the commendatory
application is of the most oblique kind. The notion of the
wisdom of the serpent probably sprang originally from the
opening verse of the third chapter in Genesis: "Now the
serpent was more subtle than any beast of the field which
the Lord God had made." As the outcome of this was in
the case of the serpent a malignant cunning, it can scarcely
be made a legitimate basis for the higher idea we associate
with wisdom.
As a talisman against evil and sickness we find the ser-
pent the companion of the physician, the magician, the
soothsayer. It may be seen at the foot of the tripod at
Delphi, or twined round the staff of Esculapius ; while Cas-
sandra, licked behind the ear by the serpent, became gifted
with prophecy and foresaw all the evil that should befall
Troy. Blind Plutus, after a serpent had licked his sightless
eyes, saw clearly all the past, the present, and the future;
and strange powers of healing and of mysterious insight
were ascribed to those who had come within the influence
of the serpent's
power and fascination.
In the Middle Ages men, for the possession of power, were
held to have sold themselves to evil and if a man were but
;
a little wiser, a little sadder, a little more taciturn than his

neighbours, he was held, like Dr, Paustus, to have invoked
the enemy of mankind, and it was a moot point whether
he should be viewed with awed respect as a magician, or
burnt alive.
As the serpent refuses to hear the voice of the charmer, so
theman of wisdom will imitate the prudence of the reptile,
and refuse to listen to beguiling words that are full of future
THE WISDOM OF THE SEKPENT. 117
peril. Snakes are naturally attracted by sweet sounds, and

the serpent charmers take advantage of the fact to capture
them a fact that was evidently well known in the days of
;
"
the psalmist, who states that the deaf adder stoppeth her
ears, and will not heed the voice of the charmer, charm he
never so wisely." The deafness, it will be noted, is no mere
lack of the hearing facnlty, but a deliberate turning away
from It was an old belief that when the asp heard
peril.
the voice of the charmer it stopped its ears by burying one
1
of them in the sand and coiling its folds over the other.
Marguerite de France, the daughter of Francis I., who was
styled by her subjects the mother of her people, bore as her
device an olive branch entwined with serpents, and the motto,
"Rerum sapientia cnstos," 8 signifying that all things should
be guided and governed by wisdom,
The serpent has also been accepted as an emblem of re-
generation or immortality from the annual casting of its
skin. As a symbol of eternity, the serpent may often be
seen having its tail in its mouth, thus forming a complete
circle,the accepted emblem of everlasting life.
Amongst various early sects the serpent was regarded not
only as the symbol of wisdom, but also of goodness, and its
form was largely employed in charms and amulets. It ap-
pears from St. Augustine that the Manicbseans used it as a
direct type of Christ; but its employment was ordinarily
antagonistic to Deity. Thus the Ophites, an offshoot of the
Gnostics, and sharing with them their belief in the implaca-
bility of Jehovah, taught that God was jealous of man, and

wished to prevent his acquiring more knowledge, but that
the serpent came to teach man wisdom. The Ophites conse-
quently adored the serpent, a worship probably prompted
and suggested by the reminiscences of the older faiths of
Phoenicia and Egypt, where the serpent was revered as a
beneficent being.
The Egyptian serpent of goodness, the cobra, is often
1 *
Pleasure and revenge have ears more deaf than adders
To the voice of any true decision "Troilus and Gressida.
" Feflies me now, nor more attends
my pain
Than the deaf adder heeds the charmer's strain."
Orlando Furioso.
* Wisdom the guardian of afairs.
nS SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
represented with a human head.

It stands erect upon its
folds, while the serpent of evil creeps along the ground. It
may be seen crowned with the diadem of the monarch, the

double crown formed of the distinctire head coverings im-
plying lordship over Upper and over Lower Egypt. The
serpent of evil is very commonly met with in the Egyptian
sculptures and wall paintings. In one example the goddess
l
Isis is piercing it through the head in another we see ;
the advancing monster destroying mankind by the breath of

its mouth. 2
Serpent worship a widely spreading form of religion
is
that we lands and throughout centuries of

find in many
3
time, the idea in most cases probably being not a recognition
of beneficence, but rather a sense of the necessity of propi-
is a most
tiating a potent evil power. The subject interesting
one, but its proper consideration would encroach upon our
pages more than would be justly its due.
In the Hindu mythology we read that there was once a
manifestation of the Deity who appeared on earth as coun-
"
sellor, warrior, and teacher. They who trust in me," cried
Krishna, "know Brahma. I am the Victim, I am the Sacri-
fice, I am the Worship, I am the Road of the Good, the Creator,
the Witness, the Asylum, and the Friend." This same being
isthe dragon-slayer of their creed, and none of the Indian
sculptures are of greater interest and beauty than those of
Krishna suffering, enveloped in the coils of a serpent that
1
"I will put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy
seed and her seed ; it shall bruise thy head, and tliou shalt bruise his
heel."
s
On Gnostic gems and coins we naturally find many other illustra-
tions. Thas on one we find the serpents of good and evil face to face,
rising from their coils for the coming conflict while on another we have
;
a galloping horse and the serpent of evil upon its back doubtless the
Gnostic treatment of the text, " I looked, and behold a pale horse : and
his name that sat on him was Death." The coins of the later Roman
emperors are rich with Gnostic and astrological devices.
* In " * 1
Squier's Serpent Worship in America, many legends are given

that admirably illustrate the feelings of the North American aborigines,
the Peruvians, Mexicans, and other dwellers on that continent with
regard to the great serpent that represents to them, as to so many
other races, the great evil power. Other books to refer to are Cooper's
" "
Serpent Myths of Ancient Egypt," Pbeng's work On Prehistoric Con-
ditions and Customs in Connexion with Serpent Worship," or Deane's
"
"Worship of the Serpent Traced throughout the World.
THE SLAYER OF THE DRAGON. "9
fastens its
fangs into his heel, and Krishna triumphant,
trampling nnder foot the crushed head of the monster* In
this myth before the eyes of the teeming millions of India
of a terrible yet
vanquishedpower of evil, of a wounded yet
conquering saviour, who proclaims himself the sacrifice, the
way, the truth, and the life, we find a wonderful parallel
with the Christ of God while in fig. 59, a portion of a
;
. 59.
Hindu picture, we see a strange similarity to the multi-

tudinous pictures of the Virgin and the
holy Child found
in Christian art.
The serpent is not much associated in art with the saints.
St.Didymus is represented as treading one under foot, and
we also find it in association with SS.
Paternus, Pirminius,
Thecla, and Phocas. Unfamiliar as these names
may be,
and generally unknown the
legends that make the introduc-
tion of the same
serpent appropriate, the difficulty scarcely
120 SYMBOLISM IN CHRIST/AN ART.
arises in the case of St. Patrick, the patron saint of Ireland,

the benefactor who once and for ever banished snakes and
all such noxious creatures from the Emerald Isle, and who
therefore, verj justly, in recognition of his deed, bears the
serpent as an attribute,
CHAPTER VII,
The Church as a Flock of Sheep Figures in Mediaeval Art of the

Jewish and Greek Churches Old Testament Incidents treated
Symbolically The "Biblia Pauperum," Illustration from Apo-
cryphal Sources of Information of the Artists of the Middle Ages
The Sibyls Symbols of the Patriarchs The Apostles The
EvangelistsThe Four Creatures in the Vision of Ezekiel The
Mysterious Beasts of the Apocalypse The Meaning of the Evan-
gelistic Symbols according to St. Jerome, St. Ambrose, and Wyek-
liffe The Iconoclasts Saint- worship Apparent Anachronisms in
Art Art Traditions Reckless Destruction of MSS. at the Reforma-
tion St. Sebastian St. Christopher St. Cecilia St. Laurence
St. Catherine St. Veronica The Sudarium St. Agatha Attri-
butes of Divers Saints St. Luke, artist The Kings in Heraldry
and Symbolism Martyrdom The Forces against the Early Chris-
tian Church.
WE proceed now to some brief consideration of the faithful,

the body of believers, the Church militant of God, and pass
in review the glorious company of the apostles, the goodly
fellowship of the prophets, the noble army of martyrs.
FIG. 60.
The Church as a whole we shall find is often represented

either by a flock of sheep or of doves. The first symbol
J
121
naturally follows from the Saviour of the world speaking

of Himself as the Shepherd, 1 and from His solemn charge
" "
to Peter, Peed My sheep : while the dove, primarily an
emblem of the Holy Spirit, is secondarily applied to all
those upon whom He has breathed the breath of life eternal.
Hence in the catacombs we of tea find representations of
the (rood Shepherd surrounded by His flock, and bearing
a sheep in His arms, as in figs. 60, 61, 62, or at other times
we see Christ as the -Lamb of God, surrounded on either
side by the sheep of His pasture. 2 Fig. 63, an early Chris-
tian gem in the British Museum, shows us the soul resting
FIG. 61.
in peace on Christ, the believer being symbolised by the

dove with the olive branch, while the fish and the monogram
1 "
I am the good shepherd : the good shepherd giveth his life for
" " Our Lord
the sheep (John x. 11). Jesus, that great Shepherd of the
sheep "(Eeb.xiii. 20).
31
In a lower sense the earthly monarch may
'*
Act the shepherd in a noble sphere,
And take his nation into royal care."
Hence on the coronation of Charles n. a medal was issued having on its
reverse the ting as a shepherd tending his sheep ; while on a memorial

medal of Charles I., struck after the ^Restoration, on the reverse we see
a hand from heaven holding a celestial crown, and below a landscape
with sheep scattered without a shepherd.
THE JEWISH AND CHRISTIAN CHURCHES. 123
are both emblems of the Saviour* The duplication seems at

first yet through it we get this double meaning,
needless ;
the sure rest for the wanderer on the Redeemer, and the
steadfast gaze fixed on Christ. In fig. 64, a portion of one
of the slabs in the catacombs of Rome, the single sheep
with the palm branch aptly symbolises the victory over
death of the member of the little flock thus commemorated.
In mediaeval work we not uncommonly find sculptured
two female figures as symbols of the Jewish and the Christian
Churches; but these are ordinarily found more freely in
the continental cathedrals and churches than in England.
PIG. 62.
The Church is represented as a woman, "the

sponse of
l
Christ," even in the earliest ages; but later on the second
figure is added. The Jewish Church or synagogue is re-
presented as blinded, a veil being over her eyes; in one
hand she bears the tables of the law, in the other a droop-
ing banner on a broken staff. The figure symbolizing the
Christian Church wears the crown, holds in one hand the
chalice, the pledge of communion with her Lord, and in
the other the once despised cross, the symbol of her faith
1
"As a bride adorned for her husband" (Bev. xxi, 2). "As the
bridegroom rejoiceth over the bride, so shall thy God rejoice over thee "
(Isa. hii. 5).
and power. Good examples of these figures may be seen

at Strassburg cathedral. At Le Mans, in a painted window
of the twelfth century, the Church is depicted as crowned
by St. Peter,while the figure representing the synagogue

falls fainting into the arms of Aaron.
During the papacy of Leo the Great (A.D. 440-462) the
wonderful mosaics in the church of S. Paolo Fuori le Mura
in Rome were produced. Here we see the enthroned Christ,
above Him the four winged creatures symbolic of the Evan-
gelists; while on either side
are the four and twenty elders,
those on the right being bareheaded, and those on the left
covered the one group signifying the prophets of the Old
:
Testament, who only saw the truth veiled the others, the
;
apostles of the New Testament, who beheld it face to face in

all its fulness and beauty. Thus in one united ascription of
FIG. 63.
praise and adoration to the Chrisfc the great teachers of the

olden time and the evangelists of the new dispensation join
in one grand outburst of joy and thanksgiving.
The Old Testament scenes are often represented, not only
from the historical, but from the symbolical standpoint, not
merely as depicting the actual incident, but utilizing it to
enforce other and greater truths such as the Incarnation,
the resurrection of the body, and the everlasting life of the
soul This kind of treatment is abundantly met with in
the catacombs of Borne. The ark floating upon the stormy
waters of the deluge becomes a type of the Church riding
in safety amidst the strifes and turmoil of the world.
Abraham's sacrifice of his son reflects the sacrifice on
Calvary. Moses striking the life-giving stream of water
from the rock in the arid desert, not obscurely points to
Christ, the great spiritual Bock and the source of living
water to the thirsty soul. Daniel in the den of lions
THE "BIBLIA PAUPERUM." 125
suggests not merely God's protecting care over the faithful

servant of God and the king, but becomes a
type of victory
over death. The ascent of Elijah prefigures the greater
Ascension and in the same way the prophet Jonah, the
;
three faithful ones in the

burning fiery furnace, the brazen
serpent in the wilderness, and other Old Testament
many
histories and incidents, furnish the substratum
upon which
higher truths are built.
The following extracts from the "Biblia Pauperum"
illustrate this teaching
by type and symbol very clearly :
FIG. 64.
"
It may be read in the book of Numbers that in one
night
the rod of Aaron brought forth buds and blossoms,
whereby
is figured the
Virgin Mary, who miraculously brought forth
the ever-blessed Jesus Christ. It be read in the first
may
book of Kings that the queen of Sheba heard of the fame
of Solomon, and came into Jerusalem with
great gifts in
adoration for him which;
queen was a Gentile, which will
typify the Gentiles who came from afar to worship with gifts.
We read in the book Genesis that when the Ishmaelites who
had bought Joseph came into their own sold
country, they
him in
Egypt; this boy Joseph is a type of Christ, who
126 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN' ART,
was sold by the impious Judas. We read in the book of

Judges concerning Samson, that in the middle of the night
he arose, and of his own might cast down the brazen gates
of the city, and carried them away with him. Samson is a
of Christ, who, rising from the grave in the middle of
type
the night, cast down the gates of the tomb, and left it in
freedom and power. We read in the first book of Kings
that when Bathsheba, the mother of Solomon, had entered
FIG. 65.
in unto him in his palace, king Solomon commanded a

throne to be placed for his mother next to his own throne.
Bathsheba signifies the glorious Virgin, whose throne is
placed next the throne of the true Solomon, that is Jesus
Christ."
As the old was made a type of the new, so the new was
occasionally a reflex of the old. Thus in representations of
the adoration of the Magi the travellers are almost always
depicted as kings, as in fig. 65, a picture by Fra Angelico,
though there is nothing in the Bible record of the -vmb to
SYMBOLIC INTRODUCTION- OF OX AND ASS. 127
justify the idea.It is based on that passage in the Psalms

where we read, "The kings of Tarshish and of the isles
shall bring presents: the kings of Sheba and Seba shall
offer gifts: down before Him, all
yea, all kings shall fall
nations shall serve Him." Hence again in almost every
representation of the Nativity the ox
and the ass are intro-
duced. This was not merely done from an idea that they
formed very natural accessories in an event of which the
scene was a stable, 1 bat quite definitely in illustration of
"
the words of Isaiah, The ox knoweth his owner, and the
ass his master's crib ; but Israel doth not know, My people
doth not consider/'
Where we sometimes find a difficulty in comprehending a
subject, we must bear in mind that, besides the canon of
Scripture as now received, the ancient writers, sculptors,
and painters drew their inspiration from various apocry-
phal sources; such as the "Evangelium de Nativitate
"
itariae," the Protevangelium Jacobi," the "Speculum
" "
Salvationist the Flos Sanctorum," the Aurea Legenda,"
and many other writings of the kind.
During the Middle Ages, and especially where the Ee-
naissance influenceis
paramount, we occasionally find the
sibyls introduced. They were held to be next in dignity to
the prophets : the function of the latter being to proclaim
the Messiah to the chosen people, of the former to foretell
His coming to the heathen world. References to the sibyls
will be found amongst the writers of Greece and Rome,
amongst the Jews, and in the writings of most of the
Christian Fathers. Plato speaks of one, Pliny of three,
^Blian of four, and Varro of ten. The Erythraean sibyl is
said, by Livy, to have offered to Tarquin II. nine books
containing the destinies of R.ome, demanding for them three
hundred pieces of gold. He declined the offer, whereupon the
sibyl threw three of them into the fire, and asked the same
price for the other six this being still refused, she burned
;
three more, and again demanded the same sum for those
that remained, when Tarquin, conferring with the
* augurs,
was advised to buy them. These books were destroyed at
the burning of the Capitol, A.D. 670. In mediaeval times the
1
The scene of the Nativity is m the East always shown as a grotto
or cave, while in Western Art it is depicted as a stable.
PIG. 66.
SIBYLS, PATRIARCHS, AND APOSTLES. 129
traditions of the Church had assigned to each of the sibyls

her distinctive prophecy and proper emblem.
Thus to the
"
Libyan sibyl was assigned the statement, The day shall
come when men shall see the King of all living things," her
emblem being a lighted torch. To the Persian sibyl was
"
assigned the prophecy, Satan shall be overcome by a true
prophet," her attribute being a dragon. To the Delphic
"
sibyl was imputed the prophecy,
The prophet born of vir-
gin shall be crowned with thorns." These prophecies
were
manifestly merely monkish legend but even so early as the
;
second century certain writings were held in great honour

amongst the pagans, and the pious fraud of interpolating
passages bearing allusions to the Messiah was practised.
These spurious predictions were held in veneration for
centuries, and the sibyls were freely introduced into art,
the best known examples beinsr in the magnificent work of
Michael Angelo in the Sistine Chapel at Eome. In Raphael's
1
picture of the "Adoration of the Kings," in the Berlin
Museum two sibyls are placed in the upper portion of the
work, and two saints in the corresponding lower portion.
In religions art the patriarchs and other Old Testament
worthies are distinguished by their special symbols. Thus
Aaron bears a censer or rod, and is clothed in the vestments
of the priesthood, while Abraham has in his hand the kn-ife
of sacrifice ; Daniel is accompanied by a, lion Amos has the
;
crook of the shepherd ; Moses carries the tables of the law,

and is crowned with a radiant glory Noah bears the dove
;
and olive-branch, or a small figure of the ark, in his hand ;

David has the harp, or sometimes the stone and sling; Blias
a scroll or chariot Jonah a big fish or a ship.
;
The apostles, as the forerunners and symbols of the whole

Christian Church, are in the earliest work represented as
sheep, six on either side of the central figure of the Shep-
herd or of the Divine Lamb. Later on they are shown, as
in fig. 66, in human form, and then the need was soon felt of
giving them distinctive symbols to aid in their identification.

*
They first appear wearing the nimbus in the mosaics of the
1
See Appendix A.
*
The mosaics of the early churches supply us with most valuable
materials. Had they been lost to ns, there was nothing else that could
have taken their place. The Christian mosaics date from the fourth
clmrcli of Si Maria, Ravenna, dating from the year 553. It

was the custom to bestow a certain personality upon each
of the Apostles : thns St. Peter always had a short, rounded
beard, while St. Andrew had a
long, flowing one St. Philip
;
was ofadvanced age, St. John almost a youth. But it was

no doubt soon found that it was impossible by such means
to clearly distinguish from one another twelve or more dis-
tinct persons. 1 Attributes or symbols were therefore assigned
to them. St. Andrew bears the X shaped cross, the emblem
of his crucifixion. St. Bartholomew was flayed alive, and
therefore has in his hand a large knife. St. James the Elder
FIG. 67.
carries shell, water-bottle, and staff of the

the scallop
pilgrim. James
St. the Less has the fuller's pole, the in-
strument of his martyrdom. St. John bears in his hand a
cup with a winged serpent emerging from it, in reference
priests of Diana challenged
to the tradition that one of the
the apostle to drink a draught of poison after St. John had
;
century. The early pictures are very simple in character, and deal with
the historical facts of the Old Testament, and such emblems as the
vine, Orpheus, or the Good Shepherd. Later on we see the gradual
development of various doctrines and the first indications of various
errors that had crept into Church government or Christian belief .
1
The number sometimes Judas is not introduced, while
varies, since
at others S3. Matthias, Barnahas, and Paul are included,
though not in
the original band of twelve.
SYMBOLS OF THE SAINTS. 13*
made the sign of the cross over the cup, Satan, in the form
of a dragon or serpent, rose from it and flew away. Judas,
the traitor, bears the bag, since he was the treasurer of the
band. St. Jnde bears a big knotted club, the instrument
FIG. 68.
of his death; and St. Matthew, for the same reason, a

hatchet. Peter ordinarily carries a couple of keys, or
St.
at other times is
accompanied by a cock; St. Simon a large
saw, and St. Thomas a lance, in each case the instrument of
Philip has a long staff or pillar, as he
1
martyrdom. Sfc:
suffered deathby being suspended from a lofty column St. ;
Matthias a battle-axe; St. Paul a sword, the instrument of

his decapitation.
The Evangelists are abundantly introduced, and under
very varying forms. Sometimes they are men with rolls or
books in their hands, inscribed with their names at other ;
times we get the inscribed books or rolls alone* Most com-

monly the evangelistic symbols are the angel, the lion, the
ox, and the eagle; and these also, as in fig. 67, are generally
associated with the rolls. Sometimes the men are introduced
with these four creatures by their sides, or at their feet, while
in a few cases the forms are human, except that they have
the heads of the angelic or animal type. In fig. 67, a piece of
early carving from the church of Sta. Maria, Borne, instead
of, as in fig. 48, having Christ surrounded by the evan-
gelists, we have the hand in benediction, and
around it the
four evangelistic symbols, each bearing the roll in hand,
paw, hoof, or claw. Fig. 68 is a much later piece of work,
a portion of a picture by Van Byck, representing St. Luke
painting the portrait of the Virgin. Even though the treat-
ment is purely pictorial and modern in character, we still
see introduced in the background the symbolic ox bearing
its scroll of writings. We may even occasionally find all
four symbols combined into one, with the fonr distinctive
heads, and supported on the foot of the angel, the paw of
the lion, the hoof of the ox, and the claws of the eagle. In
other examples again they are depicted as men holding urns,
and pouring from them the living waters of the gospel, or
at other times the four streams alone are seen issuing from
Christ the rock. 1
As some of onr readers may find a certain difficulty in
remembering the appropriate symbol of each evangelist,
they will find the following mechanical aid to memory very
serviceable if the word ALOE be taken, it will be found to
:
be composed of the initial letters of the four symbols, angel,
* " Paradisi Me fluenta

Nova flaunt sacramenta
Qnse descendant calitus :
His quadrigis deportatur

Mnndo Deus, sublimatur
Istis area yectibus*"
ADIM DB ST. VICTOBK.
THE VISION OF EZEKIEL 133
lion, ox, eagle,and in their proper sequence for Matthew,

Mark, Luke, and John. This key- word \yill at once give the
symbol required.
These four figures, ihe man or angel, the lion, ox, and
eagle, are in a marked degree common to almost all periods
of art. Thus in Egypt we find the Sphinx human, eagle-
headed, or leonine in character, while the ox is amply re-
1
presented in the countless figures of the sacred Apis. In
the Assyrian remains we are confronted by bulls or lions
with human heads, or by figures in human form, but having
the wings and heads of eagles. The four creatures seen in
the wonderful vision of the prophet Ezekiel were of this
nature ; for he expressly says in his description that they
were similar to those he had seen while a captive by the
riverChebar a river of Assyria that runs into the Euphrates
about two hundred miles north of Babylon whither he and
the great bulk of his nation were carried by the Assyrian
king Shalmaneser, 721 years before the Christian era. The

Assyrian sculptures therefore must have been familiar in
appearance to him and to those to whom he was sent to
prophesy.
"
The prophecy opens with the words, Now it came to
pass in the thirtieth year, in the fourth month, in the fifth

day of the month, as I was among the captives by the river
of Chebar, that the heavens were opened, and I saw visions
of God." The whole of the first chapter is full of glowing
imagery, and he reverts to it again in the tenth chapter;
though we realize as we read it how utterly inadequate he
must have felt all verbal description to be to express the
2
glory of that vision of the opened heaven.
1
It is curious too to notice that the four Egyptian gods of the dead
that stand before the Judge have four different natures, though in thw
case they have the heads of the dog or jackal, ape, man, and eagle.
These four, as we may see in funeral tablets in the British Museum and
elsewhere, always appear at the trial of the dead man, and mediate to
Osiris on his behalf. When the body was embalmed, various parts of
the internal organs were placed within jars having lids surmounted with
these heads.
3 **
The Christian Church, looking at the origin of the four gospels,
and the attributes which God has in rich measure been pleased to be-
stow upon them by His Holy Spirit, found a prophectic picture of them
in the four living cherubim, named from heavenly knowledge, seen by
the prophet Ezekiel at the river of Chebar. Like them the gospels are
In the apocalyptic vision of another captive exile, St.

John of Patmos, the mysterious creatures adoring cease-
lessly before the

throne reappear to mortal eye. We read
that the first creature was like a lion, and the second like a
calf, and the third had a face as a man,
and the fourth crea-
ture was Jike a flying eagle. Probably it was upon these
passages in the Old and New Testaments
that the evan-
gelistic symbols were based.

St, Jerome and St. Ambrose assert in their writings that
these four creatures represent, through the evangelists, our
Lord under four aspects. Wyckliffe, in his translation of
the Old Testament, published in the year 1380, refers to the
beliefs of both these older writers. His English is almost
too quaint for direct quotation, but the substance of it is
that Matthew is represented as a man or angel, inasmuch as
he dwells in his gospel chiefly upon the manhood of Christ;
Mark shown as the lion, as he treats most fully of His
is
rising again Luke is represented as the ox, writing as he

;
does more especially concerning the sacrifice and the priest-

hood while John is the eagle, since he passes in his writings
;
over many of the little details given by the other evangelists,

and dwells most lovingly on the Sacrament and the higher
mysteries. Another theory on which he touches differs
slightly from this, as sees in the life of our Saviour Him-
ifc
self four great incidents which the forms symbolize the :
man, referring to His human birth the sacrificial ox, to His

;
death on the cross the lion, to His resurrection; and the

;
eagle, to His ascension into heaven.

Though art soon became an aid to faith, its previous asso-
ciation with heathenism made the early Christians shrink
from its use, and the carvers of graven images were regarded
as the servants of Satan, and forbidden the rite of baptism.
This repudiation of art was however a matter of Church
four in number; them they are the chariot of God who sitteth
like
between the cherubim like them they bear Him on a winged throne into
;
all lands ; like them they move wherever the Spirit guides them ; like
them they are marvellously joined together, intertwined with coinci-
dences and differences wing interwoven with wing, and wheel interwoven
:
with wheel like them they are full of eyes, and sparkle with heavenly
;
light ; like them they sweep from heaven to earth, and from earth to
heaven, and fly with lightning speed and with the noise of many waters."
BISHOP WOEDSWOBTH, " The Four Gospels. "
RECKLESS DESTRUCTION OF OLD WORK. 135
policy, was in practice for only limited time,

and a pro- the
hibition being removed as soon as the contest between the
old beliefs and the new faith ended in the victory of the
"
latter. Later on we find Gregory II. writing : The sacred
pictures elevate the feelings of men. Fathers and mothers
lift up their children to view them. Youths and foreigners
point with edification to the painted histories. All hearts
raise themselves to God." There was nevertheless, as one
may see at the present day in Russia, a tendency for this
appreciation of picture and image to presently develop into

worship and idolatry and in the year 726 the emperor Leo
;
III, published an edict condemnatory of the veneration and

use of religious paintings and images. Hence arose the sect
of the Iconoclasts or image-breakers, and this crusade was
in active operation for over a century, and doubtless an
enormous wealth of early art fell beneath the zeal of these
enthusiasts. Later on in our own country, in the sixteenth
and seventeenth centuries, inestimable treasures of mediaeval
art were destroyed by men whose fanatical ardour was more
characterized by a burning zeal than a just discretion.
The reckless and ignorant destruction of the MSS. in the
monastic establishments at their dissolution is a conspicuous
illustration of this sadly misplaced energy. Bale, who was
himself an advocate for the dissolution of the religious
houses, cannot help exclaiming: "Never had we bene
offended for the losse of our lybrayes beyng so many in
nombre and in so desolate places for the moste parte, yf the
chief monuments and moste notable workes of our excellent
wryters had bene reserved, yf there had bene in every shyre

in Englande but one solemyne lybrary to the preservacyon
of those noble workes, and preferrements of good learnynges
in our posteryte it had bene yet somewhat. But to destroye
all without consyderacyon is and wyll be unto Englande for
ever a most horryble infamy amonge the grave senyonrs of
other nations. A grete nombre of them wych purchased of
those superstycyose mansyons reserved of those lybrarye
bokes, some to serve their jaks, some to scoure theyr candel-
styckes,and some to rubbe theyr bootes some they solde to
:
the grossers and sope-sellers, and some they sent over see to
the bokebynders, not in small nombre but at times whole
shippes ful. I know a merchantman, whyche shall at thys
tyme be nameless, that boughte the contents of two noble
a shame it is to be spoken.
lybraryes for xl shyllyngs pryce,
Thys stuffe hathe he occupyed in the stide of greye paper
for the space of more than these ten years, and yet hathe
store ynough for as manye years to come. prodygouseA
example is this, and to be abhorred of all men who love
theyr rtatyon as they shoulde do."

Another example of the destruction that
good went on all
over t&e land may be gathered from the following extracts

from the diary of William Dowsing, Parliamentary Visitor
for the county of Suffolk, recording the smashing and break-
ing of the "superstitious pictures and ornaments of

churches": ''Sudbury, Suffolk, Peter's Pariah, January
9th, 1643 We break down a picture of God the Father, two
:
crucifixes, and pictures of Christ about an hundred in all ;
and gave orders to take down a cross off the steeple, and
divers angels twenty, at leaston the roof of the church."
"
Clare, January 6th : We brake
down one thousand pic-
turessuperstitious. I brake down 200 three of God the
Father, and three of Christ and the Holy Lamb, and three
of the Holy Ghost, like a, dove with wings and the twelve
;
Apostles were carved in wood on the top of the roof, which

we gave orders to take down, and twenty cherubim to be
taken down, and the snn and moon in the east window, by
"
the King's Arms, to be taken down." Bramford, February
1st : A
cross to be taken off the steeple we brake down 841
;
superstitious pictures."
The church of St. Agnes, originally founded by Constantine,
and rebuilt by Pope Honorius (A.D. 626-638), is an example of
how things were tending, since not the Saviour as heretofore,
but Si Agnes is made the central figure in the great mosaic ;
and though the previous representation of various saints

as accessories to the Saviour could not
suggest or provoke
creature- worship, the case was somewhat altered when the
one grand central figure that invited special attention was
that of a saint receiving such special honour, and this
feeling rapidly grew into invocation and adoration.
In many of the old pictures a certain anachronism would
appear to be involved ; but this is only apparently so, as the
groups of saints of various periods assembled together are not
intended to represent historic fact, but have symbolic refer-
ence to the communion of the faithful in one
mystical body.
Thus in a picture in the National Gallery painted by Giro-
FIG. 69.
I 38 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
lamo da Treviso as an altar-piece for the Boccaferri Chapel

in Bologna, we hare the Madonna and Child enthroned
under a canopy with SS. Joseph, James, and Paul, the
latter of whom presenting the donor of the picture to
is
the infant Christ. In another picture in the same collection,

Schiavone, of the same subject, the attendant
painted by
saints include SS. Bernard, John the Baptist, Anthony of
Padua, Catherine, Cecilia, and Sebastian, an assemblage
that certainly never met together in this world. Such
gatherings represent a heavenly rather than an earthly
assembly. The pictures were ordinarily altar-pieces, and each
church or religious body made its own selection of the saints
to be represented quite independently of all considera-
tions of geography or chronology. In Mantegna's "Madonna
of Victory," in the Louvre, the infant Saviour is surrounded
by two bishops, a cardinal, and a pope, all in gorgeous vest-

ments; while in Van Eyek's "Adoration of the Lamb," three
popes, two of them amicably singing from the same book,
appear in the picture, a state of things that is materially,
though not spiritually, an. impossibility and rank absurdity.
" "
Fig. 69, the Sau Sebastiano of Titian, is another charac-
teristic example of this.
Besides the essential knowledge of the symbols attributed
to each saint before identifiation is often possible, we require
to know something of the various art traditions. Thus, for
example, St. John is represented in Western art as the
young man that he was at the death of the Saviour while ;
the Greek Church paints him as a venerable, gray-bearded

old man, writing the Apocalypse some sixty years after
the death of his Lord.
Amongst the noble army of martyrs there is no more
favourite and common subject in art than St. Sebastian. He
is always represented as divested of his clothing, tied to a
tree, and pierced by arrows. In the National Gallery we
have several examples one by L'Ortolano, the figureg life-
:
size, where he is accompanied by St. Bock and St. Deme-

trius ; and another by Pollajuolo, where the saint is seen in
the middle of the picture, bound to a tree, and already pierced
with arrows. In the foreground are four of his executioners,
two of them in the act of discharging their weapons, and the
other two charging their cross-bows here :
again the figures
are almost life size. A
very beautiful example, the work
REPRESENTATIONS OF SAINTS. 139
Sodoma) in the Uffizi Gallery, Florence, shows

of Bazzi (II
the martyr bound and pierced, while an angel descends
from heaven to crown the suffering saint with the diadem
of -victory. In the "Madonna and Saints" of Giovanni
Bellini, in the Academy at Venice, St. Sebastian occupies a
prominent position. When the subject may be considered
as painted from the
historical point of view, the treatment
generally leaves nothing to be desired ; but in a group of

saints, including possibly a cardinal or other gorgeously
robed ecclesiastic, the appearance of St. Sebastian, attired
with a mere strip of cloth around the loins, and three-foot
arrows sticking out all round him, is at first sight quaint.
We may without breach of charity assume that doubtless
one reason why this saint so often appears in art is that
draughtsmen of the nude figure find in his sufferings an
excellent opportunity of exhibiting their skill and anatomical
1
knowledge.
Another very popular saint in art is St. Christopher. He
may be seen in the picture of Joachim de Patinir in the
National Gallery, and he is also on one of the panels on the
tomb of Henry VIL, at Westminster Abbey. He may
always be recognised from his bearing on his shoulders a
little child, and he often also has the bough of a tree in his
hand. The little child is the Saviour of the world; the
saint's name signifies the Christ-bearer. It would be mani-
festly impossible to give at length the legends associated

with the various saints, but that of St. Christopher is so
interesting that we may place it at the end of our book, for
reference, (See Appendix B.)
St. Cecilia, a Roman lady who suffered martyrdom in the
third century, was said to have been the inventor of the
organ. She may therefore be recognised in art from the
organ or other musical instrument that is represented
with her. She is the patroness of musicians. In the fine
"St, Cecilia," by Raphael (a portion of which is given in the
frontispiece), the saint gazes in rhapsody into
the heavens,
where an angelic choir is singing. She holds in her hands
an organ, and at her feet are scattered various other musical
instruments. In the picture by Domenichino in the Louvre,
1
Amongst the specimens of majolica preserved in the South Kensing-
ton Museum is a figure of St. Sebastian by Maestro Giorgio,
she is depicted as playing the violoncello, an attendant

angel standing by and aiding the performance by holding
out the music-book.
Si Lawrence the Deacon was broiled to death A,D. 258,
and is therefore recognisable by the great iron framework or
FIG. 70.
gridiron that he holds at his side. He may be so seen in a

Memling in the National Gallery. In the basilica of Galla
Placidia at Ravenna, we may see him in a mosaic, standing
before the heated gridiron, holding a copy of the gospels in
his hand, to symbolize his office of deacon, and a cross, the
cross of martyrdom. In the fourth bay of the north aisle
in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, Westminster, St. Lawrence,
MARTRYDOM OF ST. CATHERINE. 141
clothed in dalmatic as a deacon, is sculptured amongst the

many other interesting figures of saints that may there be
found. He reads from a book which is supported on a
gridiron.
SS. Catherine, Euphemia, and Quintin all have a wheel as
a symbol but the first-named of these is by far the most
;
popular, and is almost always the one represented. She was

a virgin of royal birth at Alexandria, and publicly confessed
the Christian faith at a feast to the gods ; for which con-
fession she was put to death* The sentence of the emperor
was that she was to be crushed and torn by toothed wheels ;
but the apparatus was broken by angelic agency, if we may

credit the legend, and she was therefore beheaded. In a fine
picture by Eaphael in the National Gallery she is looking

upward with an expression of resignation, and leaning with
her left arm on the spiked wheel, the intended instrument
FIG. 73.
of her death. Another good example in the same collection

is by Pinturicchio, where the saint stands erect, with the
crown of a princess upon her head, the nimbus of the saint
also, a sword erect in her right hand, and the wheel behind
her. Representations of her recur constantly in mediaeval
work. Of these fig. 70 may be taken as a good illustra-
tion. In some examples, the wheel is much larger, and
more of the matter of fact character seen in fig, 71. The
wheel borne by the saint in fig, 70 is but a graceful symbol
of the actual instrument of martyrdom, while the sword is of
much more realistic type. The illustration is from a German
source.
Other favourite female saints are SS. Veronica and
Agatha. The legend of the former is given by John Dama-
scenus, in De Fide Orthodoxa." We are told that Berenice,
'
the woman who had an issue of blood for twelve years, and
who was healed of her plague by her faith in the great
Physician, encountered our Lord on His journey to Calvary,
I
and in loving pity gave him her kerchief to wipe His bleed-
ing brows. When He gave
it back to her it bore the impress
of His features, and became the Vera Icon, the miraculous
portrait, and
she was ever afterwards called St. Veronica.
In the National Gallery we may see, in a picture by William
of Cologne, the saint holding before her the sudarium or
1
white cloth containing the sacred portrait. St. Agatha
is indicated in art by her symbol, the pincers, her breast
having been lacerated by those instruments before she was

put to death. She may be seen accompanied by this symbol
in Sebastian del Pioinbo's picture representing her ;. a pic-
"
ture called by Vasari divine." It is one of the works in
the National Collection.
The pincers are also associated with SS. Apollonia, Macra,
Lucy, Pelagius, and Dunstan. With the first of these a
tooth is always held in the pincers, as Apollonia, like the
medieval Jews and many other unfortunates, had to submit
to a severe experience of involuntary dentistry as an induce-
ment to abandon her way of viewing matters. St. Lucy is
the patron saint of the blind. A heathen ruler praised the
beauty of her eyes, and desired to marry her so she tore ;
them oat with pincers and sent them to him, with the mes-
"
sage, Having these, let me now live to God." Heaven,
we are told, restored her sight; but the rejected wooer
accused her to the authorities of holding the Christian faith,
and she was put to death. Her attributes in art are the
palm branch of the martyr, and the more distinctive symbol
of a platter having two eyes in it. The pincers of St,
Pelagius are always depicted as being red hot ; but St. Dun-
stan, who also has them as an attribute, and in like manner
as of a glowing red, was more fortunate in his
represented
association with them. The former saint had them applied to
1
This poetical fable is of great antiquity, and re-appears under many
modifications. This miraculous kerchief or veil was said to have healed
Abgarus at the hands of St. Thaddeus, and it was also, we are told,
carried to Borne for the healing of the emperor Tiberius. According to
other versions of the legend, Abgarus, in his zeal to know something of
Christ, sent his own painter to Jerusalem to take the portrait of the
Saviour but the Divine face far outshone the feeble powers of the
;
artist. TheChrist, ever kindly and full of consideration, pressed a

handkerchief over His countenance, and sent it to Abgarus, stamped
with the glorious image, the Vera Icon, of his Divine features.
ATTRIBUTES OF VARIOUS SAINTS. 143
himself, while the latter applied them to some one else, which
makes, practically, a very considerable difference. The old
legend tells us that while St. Dunstan, who was a great handi-
craftsman in metals, was working in his cell, the devil in
disguise came to his window and chatted with him. The
saint soon detected from the tone of the conversation the
person he had to deal with, and picking up a pair of red-hot

pincers seized the tempter by
the nose, and only let go on
faithful promise of no farther molestation. His statue may
be seen in Henry the Seventh's Chapel, and elsewhere,
with the cope and crozier of the bishop, and in his left
hand a formidable pair of tongs or pincers.
It is impossible to dwell on the legends that explain the
attributes borne by the various saints. We must therefore
perforce be content with little more, or iu most cases nothing
more, than just mentioning them. The prominent display
of a cloak probably refers to an act of charity especially
associated with St. Martin but if spread out on the ground
;
before the figure represented, that figure will be St. Alban.

St, Hyacinth floats out to sea upon his, while St. Eaymond
uses his cloak as a sail.
A
lamp in the hand will probably betoken St. Hiltrudis or
St. Nilus, while in a general sense the lamp implies truth
and righteousness, and the illumination of the Holy Spirit :
"
Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your
ood works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.*'
The lamps of the early Christians are found in abundance in
the catacombs 1 and other cemeteries. They were accus-
tomed to place them with the dead, and from the fourth
century lamps were often kept burning before the tombs of
the revered departed. They supply numerous and excellent
examples of symbolic design. Christ as the good shepherd,
the fish, lamb, monogram, cross, palm tree, ark, dove, and
many other devices of like nature, are found upon them.
Where we find a saint carrying a lantern which a fiend
is
trying to extinguish, we are in the presence of St. 'Hugh.
The torch is more especially a heathen symbol, and is often
associated with Aurora, while the reversed torch signifies
that the light of life has departed. It is seen in Christian
art as a symbol of some few saints, and generally, as in the
1
See Appendix C.
ease of SS. Dorothy and Dioscurus, as an instrument of pain

and death.
We
not unfrequently find statues and pictures of saints
in their hands
represented as holding books these are:
divines and Fathers of the Church, whose writings have con.

tributed to the building up and defence of the faith. St.
Jerome, for example, is ordinarily thus represented. At
other times we may find the individual carrying the small
model of a church in his hand, thus marking him as the
founder of the building, or in some other way betokening
his connexion with it. In Orcagna's picture in the National
"
Gallery of the Coronation of the Virgin," we find amongst
the various saints depicted a figure of St. Peter. He is
supporting on his knees a model of the church of San Pietro
Maggiore in Florence, not, of course, because he founded
it, but because dedicated to him and it -was for the
it is ;
altarpiece of church that the picture was originally

this
painted, and the ecclesiastical authorities naturally wished ifc

to be understood by all who saw the picture that the great
apostle had them under his especial care. In the public
library at Boulogne is a MS. copy of the Psalter that contains
on its fly-leaf the symbolic description of a church. Though
it soon runs into extravagance, and
gives a forced meaning
to everything, the beginning struck us as being excellent :
"
Fundamental est Fides, Altitudo ejus est Spes, Latitude
ejns est Caritas, Longitudo est Perseverantia." In Crivelli's
picture in the National Gallery of the Annunciation, beside
the angel is kneeling St. Emidius, the patron-saint of Ascoli,
and in his hand he holds a model of that town.
St. Lukeclaimed as the patron saint both of the artists
is
and of the physiciansbut it is naturally in the former rela-
;
tionship that he appears in art. The doctors may be as

fully convinced of their claim but while their lack of artis-
;
tic skill prevents their representing the saint as

healing, the
practical art power of the painters enables them to represent
him as one of themselves. Many old pictures still extant
have at one time or another been ascribed to St. Luke.
Metaphrastus mentions his skill as an artist, and John of
Damascus refers in his writings to his portrait of the
Virgin. Hence besides his best known symbol of the
ox, the paraphernalia of the painter may often be found
bestowed upon him.
ATTRIBUTES OF SAINTS. 145
The bag of money that generally indicates Judas is also

sometimes bestowed as a symbol on St. Matthew, in allnsion
to his occupation before he became one of the chosen band
of apostles. St. Mary Magdalene bears the jar and box of
ointment, as also cloSS. Cosmasand Damian; while St. Wil-
geforte, besides her flowing tresses of hair, has a long beard.
She may be seen thus represented in Henry the Seventh's
Chapel at Westminster,-in the ninth bay on the south side, in
company with SS. Dorothy, Barbara, and Mary Magdalene*
Her beard was bestowed upon her, we are told, in answer to
her prayers, in order that she might escape matrimony. As
it
might therefore reasonably be supposed that she would
sympathise with others who were of like feeling, she was
the patron saint of all ladies who desired to get rid of their
lovers or husbands, and was popularly therefore called Si
Uncumber 1 in England, Oncombre in Flanders, Kummer-
nicht in Germany, and Liberata in France.
The great apostle St. Peter is sometimes represented with
a single key, but more often with two, one of silver and
the other of gold. The symbol is in obvious allusion to the
"
text, I will give unto thee the keys of the kingdom of
heaven" (St. Matt. xvi. 19). 3 In Perugini's fresco in the
Sistine Chapel of Christ's charge to Peter, the Saviour hands
the apostle two large keys; and we see this again in Eaphael's
cartoon of the subject. They are naturally a favourite charge
in ecclesiastical heraldry. They may be seen, for instance,
1
In Sir Thomas More's " Dialogue concerning Heresies and matters
we find the following passage Sainct Apoline we make a
'
of Beligion," :
toth drawer, and may speake her of nothing but of bad teeth. Saint
to
Roke we set to se to the great sykeness, bycause he had a sore. And
with hym they joyne Saint Sebastian, byeause he was martiret with
arowes. Some serve for the eye onely, and some for a sore brest. Saint
Germayne onely for children, and yet wyll not ones loke at them, but
if the mother bring with them a whyte lofe and yet is he wiser than
:
Saint Wyjgeforte, for she, good soule, is as they say served and content
with otys. Whereof I can not perceive the reason, but if it be bicause
she should provide an horse for an evil housebonde to ryde to the Devyll
upon : for that is the thyng she is sought for as they say. In so mnch
that women have therefore changed her name, and instede of Saint
Wylgeforte call her Saint Uncumber, bycause they reckon that for a
pecke of otys she will not fayleto uncumber them of their hpusebondys."
2
"Pannus aurens antiquus rubei coloris cum ymaginibus diversis
Sancti Petri cum clavibus pendentibus ad zonam suam
5>
(Inventory of
St Paul's Cathedral, A.D. 1402).
L
146 SYMBOLISM Iff CHRISTIAN ART.
alone, or in conjunction with other charges, in the arms of

the dioceses of York, Ripon, Exeter (fig. 72), Gloucester,
Peterborough (fig. 73), and St. Asaph; in each case two keys
being introduced, and crossing each other like the strokes of
the letter X. At Winchester the two keys are both sloping
FIG. 72.
in the same direction, but are crossed by a sword, the sym-

bol of St. Paul, in the opposite direction. In the arms -of
Truro (fig. 74), we get key and sword again. The arms of
the cathedral church of St. Paul are very appropriately two
FIG. 73. FIG. 74. FIG. 75.
crossed swords, as we may see in fig. 75, and we get the

sword again at but this time as the symbol of 'the
St. Alban's,
death of the great proto-martyr of Britain.
St. Adrian was put to death by having his limbs and head
chopped off on a smith's anvil ; his attributes therefore are

an anvil and an axe or sword. St. Adalbert is pierced with
OPPOSING FORCES TO CHRISTIANITY. 147
a lance. SS. Aurea, Christina, Callixtus, Quiz-inns have a

millstone round their necks. A
caldron of boiling oil is
the attribute of SS. John and Felicitas; of boiling lead, of
Si Fausta.Red-hot ploughshares are the symbol that marks
St. Cunegundes. The rock from which he was pushed into
the sea is associated with St. PantaleoA while others bear
;
red-hot stones, are covered with burning charcoal, are pierced

with the sword, are tormented in every conceivable way
that the malice of their persecutors could suggest. It is
impossible here to mention a tithe of the saints who make
their appearance in art and are recorded in legend.
It was speedily felt by all who were interested in main-
taining the pagan rites that the new sect of the followers of
the despised Nazarene could not be bent, and must therefore
be broken. It claimed an exclusive allegiance, and its pro-
gress meant the downfall of all other systems of faith. Poli-

tically too it was regarded with disfavour ; not only therefore
did the bloodthirsty Nero fulminate against its followers,
and strive to crush the rising Church, but even the just and
generous Trajan saw in it a danger to the State that must
be promptly dissipated. Against the new creed were arrayed
the mighty material force of the empire of Borne the intel-
;
lectual power of the keenest minds, who brought their solid
learning and acute argument to bear against it the social

;
influence of the old rites, that had been the stay and guide
of their followers in times of trouble, and no less associated
with them in the days of national and individual rejoicing ;
the conservative force that resented the intrusion of a new
cult ;
the aesthetic force of all that was grandest in archi-
tecture and sculpture ; the spiritual power wielded over the
minds of men by the older beliefs ; and, less reputable than
these six great opposing influences, but as potent as any,
the bitter, selfish opposition of such men as the maters of
the silver shrines of Diana, who saw their gains diminished.
Against these seven potent influences the infant Church,
strong in a mightier power, prevailed and triumphed, esteem-
ing the reproach of Christ greater riches than all the fading
treasures of earth.
Fantastic legends have grown around the names of some,
and many have had dimmed by the mistaken zeal
their glory
of those who strove to honour them, and yet imputed to them,
in all good faith, actions far removed from the Christ-like
spirit, while
not a few are wholly mythical but above and
;
beyond all the great fact remains the noble army of mar-
that the fearless saints of
tyrs and it is meet and right
:
the living God, the Church triumphant, should ever be held

in highest honour in the Church still militant on earth.
CHAPTER, YIII.
Symbols of Sovereignty The Crown The Tiara The Wreath The

Mitre Cardinal'sHat Sword Coronation Swords Resurrec-
tion Banner Sceptre Virge or Bod The Budding Staff of Aaron
Glastonbury Thorn Pastoral Staff Crozier Flabellum Orb or
Globe The Umbrella The Eing Signet Fisherman's Ring of
the Pope Posy-rings Gold The Gifts of the Magi The Breast-
plate of Aaron Precious Stones Initial Kings Onyx Diamond
Amethyst Agate Emerald Chrysolite Coral Sapphire.
WE pass now to a consideration of the various symbols of

sovereignty and authority, spiritual and temporal. Of these
the crown is naturally the first that occurs to us. It is
sometimes introduced as an attribute of earthly sovereignty ;
at others, as a celestial reward and proof of victory won.
In the arms of the see of St. Alban's, for instance, we find,
see fig. 76, a sword surmounted by a crown the first, a
:
symbol of the death of the great British proto-martyr ; tne

second, the reward of his constancy to the faith. In Cri-
"
velli's picture in the National Gallery of the Madonna in
Ecstasy," two angels are seen supporting a crown over her
149
150 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART, ,
head, and many other such-lite renderings may be me

with. 1
The first mention of a royal crown is where the Amalekite*
bring Saul's golden diadem
to David. Tarquin, B.C. 616, was
the first Roman sovereign who assumed it, and the earliest
English crown was that of king Alfred,
A.D. 872. The
tiara or triple crown of the popes was originally a plain high
cap, much like those in

which the Doges of Venice are so
often represented in old pictures and medals. It was first
introduced by Pope Damasus II, in 1048. It is doubtful
when the first coronet was added, but the second was placed
by Pope Boniface VIII, in 1295, and the third by Pope
Benedict XII., about 1334 It has been held that the three
crowns refer to the Trinity, though that could evidently not
have been the original idea, or they would not have been
added one after the other with an intervening interval in
each case of many years. Others affirm that they denoted
the threefold royalty of the pope one being the symbol of
:
the temporal power over the Roman states, another the

spiritual over the souls of men, and the third assumed as
ruler over all the kings and potentates of Christendom. A
third explanation is, that the three crowns are the lord-
ship claimed by the papacy over heaven and earth and
purgatory.
The arms of St. Edmund were three golden crowns on a
shield of azure ;
thus referred to by Lydgate,
" In which of
gold ten notable crownys thre
The first tokne in cronycle men may fynde
Granted unto him for royal dignite"
And the second for his virginyt6
For martyrdom the thridde in his suffring."
While the crown is an emblem ordinarily of power, the

wreath is a symbol of victory.
11
Now are our brows bound with victorious wreaths."
King Richard II.
It is ordinarily of the
bay or sweet laurel, as in fig. 2,
though the myrtle, olive, and other plants also appear.
1
Another very good example in the same gallery is the " Virgin and
Child " of Botticelli, where two angels hold a crown over the head of the
" Coronation of the
Virgin mother. See also Guide's Virgin."
THE WREATH AMD THE MITRE, 151
On the magnificent gold medallion of Constantius II., Con-

Rtantine I. is
represented standing between his
two sons,
while a hand from heaven crowns him with a wreath and ;
on many coins of ancient, mediaeval, and modern date the

laureated head of the victorious ruler is a marked feature.
FIG. 77.
The wreath expressive of triumph won is one of 'the com-

monest of symbols in the catacombs.
The mitre, the symbol of authority of the Jewish high
priest, is also the attribute of bishops and archbishops.
Cardinals anciently wore them but at the Council of Lyons,
;
FIG. 78.
in the year 1245, they were appointed the scarlet hats that
are so familiar to us all. As an ecclesiastical emblem we
find the mitre introduced in the arms of the sees of Car-
lisle (fig. 77), Norwich (fig, 78), etc. In II Moretto's picture
of St. Bernardino, at the feet of the saint are three mitres,
inscribed with the names IJrbino, Siena, and Ferrara, the

bishoprics of which he is said to have refused.
The sword as the symbol of authority and power, or, in
an evil sense, of bloodshed and wrong, is freely introduced.
Ifour symbolic swords are used at .the coronation of a British
(1) The sword of state,
sovereign. a large, two-handed
weapon, having a gorgeous scabbard of crimson velvet,
decorated in gold with the portcullis, harp, rose, thistle,
and other heraldic symbols. (2) The curtana, or pointless
sword of mercy. (3) The sword of spiritual justice. (4) The
sword of justice of the temporality. In the very interesting
series of figures of the prince-bishops of Wiirzburg, in the
cathedral church x>f that city, the crozier, the symbol of
their spiritual office, is held in one hand, while in the other
is the sword of their temporal power.
The resurrection banner of triumph over death is freely
met with in old pictures representing the risen Lord. It
is of
pure white, very long in proportion to its width, and
having a red cross upon it. It may be seen very well in Fra
Angelico's beautiful picture in the National Gallery of the
Christ surrounded in glory by saints and angels. A banner
is also borne as an attribute, often in conjunction with other
symbols, by various saints. Thus St. Victorinus bears a

banner and globe; St. Julian a banner and palm; St. Ursus,
a banner and sword. Every one is familiar too with the
importance of the flag in a secular sense as the emblem of
the country, and of the deeds of heroism that its folds
waving amidst the battle smoke have inspired.
The sceptre is a more ancient emblem of royal dignity
than the crown itself. Homer makes it the only cognisance
of the Greek kings, and the historian Justin declares that
the ancient kings of Rome used no other ensign of royalty. 1
The Greek poets describe the gods as having sceptres to
indicate their empire, and declare that an oath taken on the
sceptre was the most solemn that could be sworn. In
Jacob's prediction of the Messiah we find the sceptre
"
specifically mentioned as the emblem of regal power: The
sceptre shall not depart from Jndah, nor a lawgiver from
between his feet, until Shiloh come." Justin tells us that
1
Tarquin the Elder was the first who assumed the sceptre amongst
the Bomans, about 468 B.C.
THE SCEPTRE AND THE ROD. 153
among the Romans the sceptre was originally a spear; but

'
the sceptres described by Homer were simply big walking-

staves, designed to show that the monarchs ruled by acknow-
ledged right, and not by force. Le Gendre tells ns that in the
earlier days of the French kings the sceptre was a golden
rod, crooked at one end, and of the height of the king him-
self. At the coronation of an English sovereign the sceptre
is placed in the king's right hand ;
and in his left, during the
FIG. 79.
ceremony of investiture, he takes the virge or rod,

which is
carried before him in the concluding procession. The dis-
tinction between the sceptre and the rod is that the former
is surmounted
by a cross and the latter by a dome. This
distinction is of very ancient date, as we find that it was
observed in the ceremonial of the coronation of Eichard I.
A very good illustration of a sceptre may be seen in fig. 79,
the seal of Margaret, queen of Edward I. The lions em-
broidered upon her dress are the heraldic symbols of her
consort's kingdom; the fleur-de-lys, those of her father's

realm.
The rod, or staff, or wand of office is one of the most
familiar of symbols ; and its use stretches in an unbroken line
from the Pharaohs of Egypt in the childhood of the world,
to the baton of the field marshal and the signs of office of
the parish beadle, the cathedral verger, or Gold-stick in
Waiting of the present day. The Israelites were familiar,
during their residence in Egypt, with the notion that the rod
was the emblem or cognisance of dignity. Hence we find
Moses striking the rock at Meribah with his rod ; and when
the revolt of Korah rendered it necessary to affirm beyond
doubt the high priesthood of Aaron, the signal miracle per-
formed was the blossoming of this symbol of his authority.
The memory of this was perpetuated amongst the Jews, not
only by the preservation of the rod, hut by the introduction
of a device of budding almond flowers upon the shekels of
Jerusalem.
"The Lord spake unto Moses, saying, Speak unto the
children of Israel, and take of every one of them a rod
according to the house of their fathers, of all their princes
according to the house of their fathers twelve rods write :
thou every man's name upon his rod. And thou shalt write
Aaron's name upon the rod of Levi : for one rod shall be for
the head of the house of their fathers. And thou shalt lay
them up in the tabernacle of the congregation before the
testimony, where I will meet witli you. And it shall come to
pass, that the man's rod, whom I shall choose, shall blossom :
and I will make to cease from Me the murmurings of the

children of Israel, whereby they murmur against you. And
Moses .spake unto the children of Israel, and every one of
their princes gave him a rod apiece, for each prince one,
according to their fathers' houses, even twelve rods and the:
rod of Aaron was among their rods. And Moses laid up the
rods before the Lord in the tabernacle of witness. And it
came to pass, that on the morrow Moses went into the taber-
nacle of witness ; and, behold, the rod of Aaron for the house
of Levi was budded, and brought forth buds, and bloomed
blossoms, and yielded almonds. And Moses brought out all
the rods from before the Lord unto all the children of
Israel and they looked, and took every man his rod."
:
In fig. 80 we have an illustration of the Jewish shekel,

THE STAFF AND THE CRQZIER. 155
In the centre is the budding rod of Aaron, and the inscrip-

tion,Jerusalem the Holy. In fig. 81 we have the reverse,
having in the centre the pot of manna, and aronnd it the
words, Shekel of Israel. The date of this coin is ahont
450 B.C.
In Christian art the bearer of a budding staff may be, not
Aaron, but St. Joseph of Arimathsea or St. Ethelreda.
Near Glaatonbury Abbey stands an old hawthorn that has
been the subject of many legends, the current belief how-
ever being that it sprang from tlie staff of St. Joseph, who,
it is asserted, was the first
preacher of Christianity to
Britain, and who, to convince the benighted islanders of his
mission, thrust his staff into the ground, when it at once
budded and blossomed. The tree has ever since flowered,
FIG. 80. FIG. 81.
not only at its proper season, but also at each Christmas,

the anniversary of its miraculous origin. 1
In the earliest examples of Christian art, as in the cata-
combs or in the Museum of the Lateran (see appendix D),
our Saviour is often depicted as bearing a wand, and em-
ploying it in the working of various miracles, as in the turn-
ing of the water into wine, the raising of Lazams, and other
instances of the exertion of Divine authority.
The error of confusing the pastoral staff or crook with
the crozier is one constantly made. The two things are per-
1
A piece that came under our notice on December 16th had eight
hunches of flowers upon it, and each of these was composed of from
twenty to thirty blossoms and buds, about a dozen in each bunch being
fully expanded. The blossoms were a little smaller than would ordi-
narily be looked for, but had all the beauty and regularity of form and
the characteristic hawthorn scent of the normal plant. The only thing
abnormal in the appearance of the spray was the entire absence of
foliage.
f ectly distinct, and should be carefully discriminated. The

pastoral staff belongs officially to all cardinals, archbishops,
and bishops, and was also in mediseval times assigned by
courtesy to certain abbots and abbesses. It is borne in the
left hand, thus leaving the right free to perform the neces-
sary functions of ceremonial and worship. The crozier, a

cross or crucifix on a staff, is never carried by the higher
ecclesiastics, but is borne immediately before them, to indi-
cate and emphasise their office and dignity. In England
the pastoral staff was in use from a very early period : the
pontifical of Dunstan (A.D, 957-988) gives
the form of service
for its benediction while the Venerable Bede, in his treatise
;
"
De Vii Ordinibus," dwells on its symbolic significance. In
the form for the consecration of a bishop in the first Prayer-
hook of Edward VI., the archbishop puts into his hand the
"
pastoral staff, saying, Be to the flock of Christ a shepherd,
not a wolf; feed them, devour them not hold up the weak,
;
heal the sick, bind together the broken, bring again the out-
casts, seek the lost."
The carving in the head of the crook is religious or
symbolic in character. Several of these pastoral staves may
be seen in the South Kensington Museum. In one of them
the subject within the volute is the crowning of the Virgin
by Christ, in another the Annunciation, in another St. Michael
and the dragon, and so forth. Numerous beautiful examples
may be seen in monumental effigifes and ecclesiastical seals.
Scores of the actual crooks were destroyed at the Reforma-
tion, partly because they were held to be popish, but pro-
bably more especially because, being often richly gilt and

adorned with precious stones, the appeal to the cupidity of
the king's underlings proved altogether irresistible.
The orb, mound, or globe is a symbol of sovereignty, and
is borne in the left hand. It was assumed as a cognisance by
the emperor Augustus, and was sometimes termed the apple ;
ia all cases it was regarded as the symbol of far-reaching

dominion. The surmounting cross was added to the globe
by Constantine, the first Christian emperor. Suidas, describ-
"
ing the statue of the emperor Justinian, says : In his left
hand he held a globe, in which a cross was fixed, which
showed that by faith in the cross he was emperor of the
earth. For the globe denotes the earth, which is of like
form, and the cross denotes faith, because God in the flesh
THE ORB, MOUND, OR GLOBE. 157
was nailed to it." The globe and cross were first introduced
as ensigns of authority in Western Europe by Pope Benedict
VIII. Almost all the English, kings, from Edward the Con-
fessor,have the globe in their left hand on their coinages
or great seals, and it seems also to have been frequently so
placed when sovereigns lay in state after their decease. In
the picture by Rubens, " Henry IV. entrusting the Symbol
of his Power to Mary de Medici," the symbol is the globe,
which he places in her hands.
As the orb signifies far-reaching dominion, we naturally
find it associated in early art with the Deity. In Giotto's
"
Christ adored by Angels," we see over all the eternal
82,
Father, bearing the globe in His hand and we may see the
;
"
same treatment again in the " Adoration of the Magi by Fra
Angelico, and in many other instances of early work. We
have examples of this in figs. 82 and 83. The first of these
is a gem dating from the sixth century, the letters on either
side of the head clearly indicating, apart from the cruciferous

nimbus, that the second Person of the Trinity is repre-
sented; while in the second illustration (fig. 83) we see
above the sitting Christ the eternal Father, and in each case
bearing the orb. Fig. 26 is another example that may be
referred to.
Many other symbols of authority will doubtless occur to
our readers the fasces carried by the Roman lictors, the
;
caduceus of Mercury, the trident of Neptune, the thunder-

. 83,
THE USE OF THE FLABELLUM. 159
bolts of Jupiter. 1 The Pharaohs of ancient history again,

and the popes of mediaeval and modern days, had gorgeous
feather fans borne before and aronnd them while not merely
;
the cooling fan, bnt the sheltering umbrella becomes in hot

countries a sign of distinction. In the wall paintings of
Egypt and the carvings of Nineveh and Persepolis, the
monarch has the sunshade held over him and one of the ;
most honourable titles of the king of Siam is Lord of the

Twenty-four Umbrellas. On the coinage of Herod Agrippa
I. we find as a device an nmbrella.
FIG. 84.
The flabellum had its origin in the Eastern Church, and

was of distinctly practical use, cooling and refreshing the
celebrant, and driving away the flies and other insect plagues
of the sultry East from the encharistic elements. With
the spread of ritual came also the flabellum or muscarium,
though in the less sunny lands of the North and West it
ceased to be of any practical value. As its original employ-
ment was one of the duties of the deacon, it became a symbol
of the diaconate, and in the early service books full directions
were given at the ordination of a deacon as to the fit use
of the muscarium then bestowed. The flabellum, though
often of feathers, was also made of vellum, linen, and other
materials of the kind, and we may sometimes find it a richly
decorated disk of brass or silver. In aa ancient Greek
fresco we have a representation of the Saviour preaching,
while an angel holds a circular flabellum of metal over His
head, as a protection against the sun. Several examples of
1
As ve see in fig. 84, a coin struck by Nero, A.D. 66. The eagle
thereon is a symbol of imperial Borne, and the palm branch, of yictory.
I6o SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
its use in the Western Clmrch may readily be cited. We

see an illustration of example, in the "Book of Hells,"
it, foi:
"
an Irish MS. of the sixth century, and the mnscatorium de
"
figures in the inventories
of York, Salis-
pennis pavomum
bury, and other cathedrals. It has
been held that the use of
the peacock feathers symbolised the countless eyes, not of
men only, but of good and evil spirits, watching the actions
of the pontiff or other ecclesiastical dignitary, and reminding
him thereby of the nrgent need for holy watchfulness in
return but we may well consider such an explanation a
;
laboured after-thought, and see in the splendour of the

feathers a sufficient reason for their use at a time when men
gave freely of their best for the service of the sanctuary.
The ring is another very characteristic emblem of power,
as investiture by its means was the most ancient form of
conferring dignity : it was by this ceremony that Pharaoh
created Joseph his viceroy over Egypi "Thou shalt be
over my house, and according unto thy word shall all my
people be ruled : only on the throne will I be greater than

thou. And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, See, I have set thee
over all the land of Egypt. And Pharaoh took off his ring
from his hand, and put it upon Joseph's hand, and arrayed
him in vestures of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his
neck."
The ring appears to have been employed originally as a
signet as, for instance, when the prophet was cast into the
;
den of lions, and a big stone was rolled to the mouth of the
den, the king sealed it with his own signet and with the
"
signet of his lords. Sir Gardner Wilkinson, in his Manners
and Customs of the Ancient Egyptians," refers to one bearing
the name of a king who was reigning about 1,400 B.C. The
device is a scorpion. Many excellent examples may be seen
in the British Museum.
In mediaeval days a jewelled ring was part of the necessary
adornment of the higher ecclesiastics, and it was ordinarily
buried with them. In the old romance of " Sir Degrevant,"
we are told that at the marriage of the hero there were
tl
Archbishops with rings,
More than fifteen."
and in another fourteenth century tale, " n

King Athelstan,
the king exclaims to an offending cleric,
SYMBOLIC USE OF THE RING. 161
"
Lay down thy cross and thy staff,
Thy mitre, and thy ring, that I to thee gaff,
Out of my land thou flee."
The prayer for the blessing of the ring ran as follows :
"
Creator and preserver of mankind, Author of Spiritual
grace and Giver of everlasting Salvation, send Thj bless-
ing upon this ring, that whosoever shall walk distinguished
by this sacred sign of faith may by the protection of Thy
heavenly power attain everlasting life, through Jesus Christ
our Lord. Amen." The bishop wore a ring as representa-
tive of the heavenly Bridegroom, and guardian of the Church.
The grand ceremony of wedding the Adriatic by casting
therein a ring will be familiar to all who have studied
Venetian history. The next thing we need refer to is the
"
famous " fisherman's ring of the pope. It is a signet of
steel used for the marking of the official documents issued
from the papal court. A
new one is made for erery pope,
though all are based on a very ancient original, representing
St. Peter in his boat drawing his net to the surface. The
classic form of the boat and oar shows a direct derivation
from an antique original.
Rings were used too for the purposes of divination, as
amulets to protect the wearer from all harm, and as symbols
of affection. 1 These latter, the posy rings as they were
termed by our ancestors, had ordinarily an inscription upon
their inner surface; such as, "United hearts death only
parts"; "A faithful wife preserveth life"; "As God
decreed so we agreed."
It is said that king Edward the Confessor was met by a
venerable old man, who asked alms of him and the chari- ;
table monarch, being at the moment destitute of money,

gave the suppliant his ring, Soon afterwards two English
pilgrims, who had lost their way, were met, at the approach
of night, by this same old man, who led them into a mag-
nificent city with' golden streets, the New Jerusalem, the
1
Those who care to pursue the subject further may advantageously
"
turn to the following works : Warne's essay On Ancient Coins, Medals,
and Gems"; King's "Memoir on Amulets and Talismans"; King's
41
The Gnostics and their Eemains, Ancient and Mediaeval" Fortnum's
;
"
"Early Christian Engraved Gems"; or Ayzal's Symbolique des Pierres
PrScieuses, ou Tropologie des Genomes."
iC3 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN- ART.
visible existence of which was a popular article of faith in

the Middle Ages. The old man entertained them hospitably
and gave them lodgings for the night. In the morning he
informed them that he was St. John the Evangelist, of whom
it was believed by many of the ancient Fathers that he was
appointed to tarry
on earth until the second coming of the
Lord Christ. St. John told the pilgrims that it was to him
in person that their king had given the ring, and he sent
it back them to him, with a promise that Divine grace
by
should encircle every British sovereign who was invested
with this ring at his coronation. The sacred ring was long
preserved at the shrine of St. Edward,
and only brought out
at the time of a coronation. It deserves to be remarked
that legends of the appearance from time to time of St. John
continued to be held so late as the reign of Henry VIIL
Should we see in Christian art a figure holding out a ring,
the statue or painting is probably meant for St. Edward
the king and confessor ; while SS. Theodosius and Gregory
have as attribute a large iron ring round their bodies. St.
Pelagia, the penitent, has the ground before her strewn with
jewels and ornaments, the vanities of earth that she has cast
from her.
Gold, as one of the two noble metals, has always been

held in symbolic honour. It is a favourite emblem in Scrip-
ture of faith triumphant in adversity and suffering, 1 while
its brightness and value make it equally appropriate as a
symbol of majesty and honour.
Gold, frankincense, and myrrh were the three symbolic
giftsbrought by the wise men of the east to the Babe of
Bethlehem.
" Eastern
sages at His cradle
Hade oblations rich and rare ;
See them give, in
deep devotion,
Gold and frankincense and myrrh.
Sacred gifts of mystic meaning :
Incense doth their God disclose,
1 " "
shall be tried as the gold in the fire
They (2 Esdras xri. 73) ;
" When He hath tried nw, I shall come forth as gold " (Job rriii. 10) ;
tc
The trial of your faith, being much more precious than of gold which
"
periflheth (1 Pet. i. 7) ; "I counsel thee to buy of Me gold tried in the
"
fire, that thou mayest be rich (Bey. iiL 18).
THE GIFTS OF THE MAGI. 163
Gold the King of kings proclaimed,

1
Myrrh His sepulchre foreshows."
According to an ancient legend, this choice of gifts was

to ascertain whether the mysterious stranger that they were
going to worship was a king or a prophet or God Himself.
If he were a king, he would select the gold if he were a poor;
man, he would choose the myrrh but if Grod, He would take

;
the incense. As both God and man, the King of kings

veiled in humanity, He accepted from them all three of
their gifts.
11
An Age shall bring about the Day
When Lord of Lords shall lodge in clay ;
Three kings from east him to adore

Shall come with incense, myrre, and ore."
Other ancient writers assigned the gold to the race of

Siem, the myrrh for Ham, and the incense for Japhet.
" Then entered in those Wise men three
Full reverently upon their knee,
And offered there, in His Presence,
Their gold and myrrh and frankincense."
The various precious stones have been endued with sym-

bolic meaning and application. A notable example of this
was the breastplate of judgment borne by Aaron when he
entered the holy place. This breastplate had twelve pre-
cious stones, one for each tribe of Israel. The first row was
a sard ins, topaz, and carbuncle ;
the second, an emerald,
a sapphire, and a diamond; the third, a ligure, an. agate,
and aa amethyst the fourth, a beryl, an onyz, and a jasper
; ;
and on each stone was engraved the name of the tribe it

symbolized.
The episcopal rings of mediaeval days were jewelled ; and
the stones usually chosen for such rings were ruby, emerald,
or crystal. The choice had significance, as indeed almost all
elsa had that entered at all into the ritual of the Eoman
Catholic Church: ruby being indicative of burning zeal,
emerald of tranquil peace, crystal of simplicity and purity.
1 "
Thus, aurum, myrrham, regique, hominique, Deogne,
n
Dona fertmt.
" Anrea nascenti fuderunt munera

regi,
Thura dedere Deo, mjrrham tribuew sepulchre."
In like manner the diamond indicated invulnerable con-

the amethyst, humility; the
stancy; the sapphire, hope;
onyx, sincerity.
A
hundred years or so ago it was the custom in England
to use the stones in such a way in a ring that the initials of
their names might spell out some little love message, some
catchword, or the name of the donor or the recipient,
hus, if we place, one after another, round a ring or bracelet
Political
a ruby, emerald, garnet, amethyst, ruby, and a diamond, we
get the word REGARD.
The onyx was held to be a sure talisman of victory over
one's enemies. Our word diamond is a corruption of adamant,
and this in turn is derived from the Greek word for invincible;
not, as has been generally supposed, on account of its exces-
1
sive hardness, but from the ancient belief in the inability
of the gods to resist the prayer of any suppliant who carried
"
one with him. He who carries the diamond upon him, it
gives him hardness and manhood, and it keeps the limbs of
his body whole. It gives him victory over his enemies in
court and in war, if his cause be just ; and it keeps him that
bears it in good wit, and it keeps him from strife and riot,
from sorrows and from enchantments, and from fantasies
and illusions of evil spirits. And if any cursed witch or
enchanter would bewitch him that bears it, all that sorrow
and mischance shall turn to the offender, through virtue of
that stone ; and also no wild beast dare assail the man who
bears it on him. It makes a man stronger and firmer against
his enemies: heals him that is lunatic, and those whom
the fiend pursues or torments. And if venom be brought in
presence of the diamond, anon it begins to grow moist."
Thus says Sir John Maundeville, writing in the year 1356 ? ;
but as, even in those ages of faith, some people evidently
1 "
Hard-hearted adamant."
"
Midsummer Night's Dream."
" Strike as hard as
you will with an hammer upon the point of a
diamant, you shall see how it scorneth all blowes, and rather than it
will eeeme to relent first flieth the hammer that splitteth in pieces, and
the very anvil itself underneath cleaveth in twaine. Besides it has a
Kature to conquer the furie of fire, nay you shall never make it hote,
doe what you can."
2
We hare of course modernised the language. The original English
is excessively quaint, and almost unreadable in places.
THE INFLUENCE OF PRECIOUS STONES. 165
raised doubts, he adds "

: Nevertheless it
happens often that
the good diamond loses its virtues by sin, and for inconti-
nence of him that bears it, and then it is of little value."
Any critic therefore who cavilled might be delicately re-
minded that there were undoubtedly occasions when the
diamond refused to exercise its beneficent power, and that a
little self-amendment might well take the place of adverse
criticism.
The amethyst was held to possess the power of preserving
wine-drinkers from the natural result of their over-indul-
gence ; while the agate made its wearer proof against deadly
serpents, and the emerald strengthened the sight and the
memory. The chrysolite could drive away evil spirits, while
the onyx dispelled grief. Coral was held to keep off storm
and thunder.
It is possible that the pagan belief in the efficacy of cer-
tain stones, such as the diamond, the jasper, the topaz, the
sapphire, and the opal, to win from the gods a favourable
answer to prayer, and, in the case of other stones, to ward
from threatening dangers, may have not been altogether
without influence when Christianity superseded the worship
of the gods of paganism. The great wealth of jewellery
expended on shrines, crucifixes, vestments, and pictures may
have been partly the result of belief in its efficacy as well
as a gift of faith and homage to the glory of God and the
enhanced honour of the saints. A
decree of Pope Innocent
III.,in the twelfth century, ordained that henceforth the sap-
phire should always be the stone used in the rings whereby
the bishops at their investiture were wedded to the Church.
When sacrifices were offered, and responses sought from
Phoebus, it was thought that he was better pleased, and

that it was easier to get one's request granted, if the
sapphire were exhibited, since it was a sign of concord, and
therefore in the Middle Ages it was held to keep a man
safe from fraud, fear, or envy.
The mediaeval writers attributed to each gem a special
influence over each month, and also assigned a precious
stone to each of the twelve apostles.
Amongst the treasures prepared by David for the glorious
of
temple that he would fain have built for the worship
Jehovah we find "onyx stones, and stones to be set,
glistering stones, and of divers colours, and all manner of
r66 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
precious stones." These are repeatedly introduced in the

picturesque eastern imagery of the Bible as the symbols of
prosperity and magnificence "0 thon afflicted, tossed with
:
tempest, and not comforted, behold, I will lay thy stones

with fair colours, and lay thy foundations with sapphires.
And I will make thy windows of agates, and thy gates of
l
carbuncles, and all thy borders of pleasant stones."
The Book of Job again gives us many interesting refer-
ences but the most beautiful Biblical use of these gems is
;
the attempt, the hopeless but magnificent attempt, to pic-

ture to mortal eyes something of the grandeur of the
Paradise of God, with its walls of jasper, founded in
sapphire and emerald and chrysolite, its gates of pearl, and
streets of pure gold like unto clear glass. The writer could
but put together all that seemed to him most splendid and
radiant. He failed where it was impossible to succeed, since
no material imagery that the heart of man can conceive can
picture to our yet blinded eyes the ineffable grandeur and
glory of that heavenly city, or give even a suggestion of the
dazzling splendour of the New Jerusalem.
1
Isa. liv. 11, 12.
CHAPTER IX.
Animal Forms The Lamb Agnus Dei Lamb of the Apocalypse The
Lion in good and in bad sense The ** Book of Beasts " of Philip de
:
Thaun Strange Mediaeval Beliefs Symbol of St. Jerome Stag-

Ox ABB Elephant Horse Unicorn Bear Dog Pig Satanic
Possession Wolf Satirical Bepresentations in Middle Ages For
Monkey.
WE proceed now to a consideration of the various animal

forms that have been employed symbolically in art. These
are not very numerous but one of them, the lamb, as a sym-
;
bol of Christ, the great Lamb of the sacrifice, is one of the

most freely met with of all symbolic representations. Its
occurrence ranges from almost the earliest days of Chris-
tianity, throughout all the intervening centuries, down to
the present time.
The lamb is repeatedly referred to in the Old
sacrificial
Testament and the prophets, looking beyond the material
;
rites of the Mosaic law, saw clearly in that sacrifice the

future Messiah. John too the great forerunner, announced
5
the Christ to Ms followers as " the Lamb of Grod." It is

therefore very natural that we should find it as one of the
earliest symbols.
" An hevenly signe, a token ofi most vertu,
To declare how that hnmylite
Above alle vertues pleseth most Jesu.
Off Adamys synne -was wasshe away the rast
Be vertn only off thys lambys blood.*' LYDGATE.
It soon became so favourite a form that we presently find
some danger of idolatry creeping in.
little In the sixth
century it was placed with crown and nimbus on the cross ;
and in the year 692 a council of the Church was forced to ^
decree that it should not; henceforth be thus substituted for

the human form. In the catacombs, on, the sarcophagus of
107
i6S SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
Junius Bassns, a lamb is represented as changing water into

wine, raising the dead Lazarus, and performing other acts
that clearly indicate that the animal form is but a symbol
of the Christ. The early examples have no nimbus; but
lateron this is frequently added, being generally cruciferous
or inclosing the sacred monogram. In other instances the
lamb has the palm branch of victory.
In the church of St. Bavon, Ghent, may be seen a picture
"
by Van Eyck of the Adoration of the Lamb," where an
actual lamb stands upon an altar, and is surrounded by
worshipping angels and saints. We give in fig. 85 an illus-
tration of this work.
In some of the early mosaics we see a lamb, and on either
side of it six sheep, a symbol of Christ and His apostles.
This may be very well noticed in the great mosaic in the
apsis of St. Cosmo Damian in Eome, executed about the
year 526, At other times a variable number of sheep is
introduced ; in which case it is to be understood that they
are symbols of the Church, the general body of believers.
In mediaeval art the lamb is associated with St. John the
Baptist and SS. Agnes, Regina, Genevieve, Catherine, and
Joanna and in the form of the Agnus Dei, the symbol of
;
Christ appears in numberless examples on embroideries,

painted on wall surfaces or in missals, or sculptured on the
tympana, capitals, or fonts. It ordinarily bears a cross of
very slender proportions, to which a banner is frequently
attached.
Onthe door of the church of St. Pudentiana at Rome, for
is a medallion
instance, containing the Agnus Dei, together
with the inscription : " Dead or living I am but one ; I am
at once the Shepherd and the Lamb," On the celebrated
Syon cope at South Kensington, amongst other devices, we
see the Agnus Dei embroidered. In the Westminster in-
"
ventoryof 1540, we find Another albe haveyng wrought
a egle, a gryffen, a holly lambe, and a lyon, with dyvers other
beasts."
Louis IX. of Trance (St. Louis), who reigned from 1226
to 1270, caused the " agnel d'or" to be struck. This coin
bore on one side the Agnus Dei, with the inscription,
"
Agnus Dei, qui tollis peccata mundi, miserere nobis," and
on the other, "XPC vincit XPC regnat 2PC imperat."
This coin was imitated by Edward
III., and, when the sacred
significance of the symbol

was forgotten, was popularly
called the mouton d'or.
Countless myriads of people the wide world over, who in
many cases know or care nothing of symbolism, or regard
it as quite a feature of the past, Sunday after Sunday raise
"
the prayer to heaven, Lamb of God, that takest away
the sins of the world, have mercy upon us,"
The Lamb of the Apocalypse, with the seven horns and
seven eyes that indicate the seven gifts of the Holy Spirit,
is occasionally met with in medieval art; but the poetic
imagery of the Book of the Revelation does not readily

"
lend itself to material representation, and of this the Lamb
"
that is in the midst of the throne is but one instance of
many that might be referred to. No painter or sculptor

can reduce these images to form the mere effort results
;
in grotesque impossibilities that are only preserved from

irreverence by the honesty and good faith of those who
attempted them. The title of the Lamb is applied to Christ
twenty-nine times in the Revelation, and any one turning
to these passages will at once realize how natural it is that
the Agnus Dei should be one of the most cherished of sym-
bols. Earthly sorrow finds consolation, and the great burden
of humanity and the mystery of life is irradiated with Divine
light, in the touching words, "For the Lamb which is in the
midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto
living foimtains of waters: and God shall wipe away all
"
tears from their eyes while, the sorrows of earth over for
;
evermore, we listen in another passage to the great triumph

song of the redeemed, as the thrilling anthem rises from
"
the innumerable host, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain
to receive power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and
"
honour, and glory, and blessing !
St. John the Baptist is often represented in art as bearing

a lamb. He may be thus seen in a picture by Murillo in our
own National Gallery, where he is painted as a child caress-
ing a pet lamb, the type of the mediatorial and sacrificial
work The standard is lying on the ground beside
of Christ,
them. On John's Day in Venice a little fellow is selected
St.
to impersonate the great forerunner of the Messiah by ap-
pearing with a sheep's skin tied round his otherwise naked
body, and attended by a lamb. Such customs are survivals
from the Middle Ages, when, as in the Passion plays, it was
THE LION IN SYMBOLIC ART. 171
endeavoured to appeal to the senses, and to render the scenes

and characters of the Bible or the traditions of the Church
in as realistic a manner as possible.
We pass now to a consideration of the use of the lion in
religious art. We find it under several modifications of
meaning, and it often becomes necessary to study the sur-
roundings before we are able to appreciate the motive that
may have led to its introduction. It is, for instance, some-
times used as a symbol of Christ, the Lord of life at other ;
times as a symbol of the prince of darkness. In the former

" the
case it illustrates such texts as Lion of the tribe of
Judah has conquered" in the latter it fitly personifies the
;
"
lost angel fallen from his high estate, who walketh about
as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour." It is
often introduced too in a general way as an emblem of
strength, majesty, courage, and fortitude ; or as the attribute
of some especial saint ; or, again, from its connexion with
some particular historic event recorded in the Bible.
"
In a quaint old MS. of the twelfth century, The Book of
x
Beasts/' written by Philip de Thatui, we find .a curious
literary exemplification of the association of the lion with
the second Person of the Trinity. As the tone of thought
of that period naturally influenced the missal painter, the
stone-carver, and all who were in any way concerned in
"
art, we may very legitimately quote the passage. The
1
Of the " Livre des Creatures " seven copies only are known. The
author had as patron Adelaide of Louvain, queen of Henry I. His
poems are the earliest examples extant of the Anglo-Norman language.
The MS. was written in the first half of the twelfth century, and in it he
deals with the Creation. We give a sample, followed by the translation,
as rendered by Thomas Wright, F.S.A.
" En un livre divin, que apelum Genesim,

Hoc lisant truvum quse Des fist par raisun
Le soleil e la luue, e esteile chescune.
Pur eel me plaist & dire, d'ieo est ma materie,
Que demusterai e a clers e a loi r
Chi grant busnin en tint, e pur mei perierunt."
f
'
In a Divine book which is called Genesis,
There reading, we rind that God made by reason
The sun and the moon, and every star.
On this account it pleases me to speak of this is my matter,
Which I will show both to clerks and to laics,
Who have just need of it, and will perish without it."
"
lion/' writes our old author, in many ways rules over many
beasts, therefore is the lion king. He has a frightful face,
the neck great and hairy; he has the breast before square,
hardy, and pugnacious his shape behind is slender, his tail
;
of large fashion, and he has flat legs, and haired down to the
feet; he has the feet large and cloven, the claws long and
curved. When he is hungry or ill-disposed he devours ani-
mals without discrimination, as he does the ass which resists
and brays. Now hear, without doubt, the significance of
this. The lion signifies the Son of Mary. He is king of all
people without any gainsay. He is powerful by nature over
every creature, and fierce in appearance, and with fierce
look he will appear to the Jews when he shall judge them,
because they made themselves guilty when they hanged him
on the cross, and therefore they have merited to have no
king over them. The square breast shows strength of the
Deity. The shape which he has behind, of very slender
make, shows humanity, which he had with the Deity. By
the foot, which is cloven, is demonstrance of God, who will
clasp the jvorld and hold it in his fist." We need not follow
our old authority any further in his laboured mysticism; the
passage given will sufficiently indicate the association in the
Middle Ages of the lion with Christ.
It was an ancient belief that the lion cubs were born
dead, but were brought to life three days after their birth
by the roaring of the lion ; and it was very easy to trans-
fer this belief into a natural symbol of the resurrection of
Christ. 1
The use of the lion as an emblem of strength, majesty,
and fortitude naturally arises from many passages in the
"
Scriptures. Samson asks, " What is stronger than a lion ?
Job speaks of " the voice of the fierce lion." Any good con-
cordance will supply an ample number of illustrative texts
qualities we have
for the use of the lion as an emblem of the
named.
1 "
N'oublions pas que les Peres de I'^glise se pr&occup&rent toujours
beaucoup plus de la purete des doctrines qu'ils avaient & d6velopper, que
de 1'exactitude Scientifique des notions snr lesquellesils les appuyaient."
HIPPEAU, on Le Bestiare Divin" of Guillaume.
*
And elsewhere : " L'objet important pour nous est de consider la

"
signification d'un fait et non d'en discuter I'authenticit6 !
THE LION IN SYMBOLIC ART. 173
The was believed by the mediaeval writers on natural

lion
or perhaps we should rather say unnatural historyto
always sleep with its eyes open, an idea that they in turn
borrowed from more ancient authors in lieu of investigating for
themselves. Hence the idea of watchfulness was superadded
to the other qualities ascribed to the lion. This idea
probably
had some influence in the selection of the twelve flanking
lions of Solomon's throne. The lion is not unfrequently
FIG. I
found in early Christian churches, and especially those under

Lombard influence, as a sentinel at the doors, as the base to
the pulpits.
the foot of
pillars, or at
The the attribute of some particular person,
lion, again, as
may freely be met with. The most notable example of this
is seen, as we have already noted, in its association with St.
Mark. 86, from some ancient stained glass
in the South
Fig.
is a good illustration of this special
Kensington Museum,
application of the lion.

In mediaeval art it is also largely
associated with St. Jerome. In sculpture or painting the
animal is ordinarily represented at his side. A
well known
example of this, fig. 87, familiar to most of our readers,

doubtless, from photographs and engravings, is the "Last
Communion of St. Jerome," by Domenichino. The aged saint
has been brought by loving hands to the altar, the minister-
ing priest hands him the wafer,
and attendant angels hover
near to convey his soul to heaven. At his side crouches
a full-grown lion.
In our own National Gallery many good examples may be
seen. The friendship between the saint and the lion began
by a little kindly surgery on the part of St. Jerome, and in
a picture by Cosimo Tura the lion is seen in the background
limping with a thorn in one of his paws towards the kneel-
ing saint. In a picture by Cosimo Rosselli St. Jerome turns
to meet the lion and is taking him by the paw, while an
attendant monk runs away towards the monastery, at the
door of which are several wondering and admiring monks.
It is a delicate point of discrimination that the artist has
given St. Jerome a nimbus, while the weak brother who flees
faithlessly and abandons his companion has no such distinc-
tion. In the "St. Jerome in his Study/' attributed to
"
Giovanni Bellini, the St. Jerome in the Desert," by Bono
"
Ferrarese, and in The Virgin, the Child, attended by St.
Jerome and. St. Domenick," of Pilippino Lippi, the lion is"
in each case conspicuously introduced.
In mediaeval art the lion is introduced also in represen-
tations of several other saints. It is placed by the sides or
at the feet of SS. Prisca, Buphemia, Natalia, Thecla, and
Adrian. With St. Gerasimus it is represented as carrying
a basket in its mouth. It fawns in the amphitheatre on St.
Gtermanicus. It is represented as devouring SS. Silvanus,
Agapetus, and Ignatius, as digging the grave of St. Mary
of Egypt, and in the den with St. Pontianus. The student
who desires full information on the various legends involved
"
will do well to refer either to Butler's Lives of the Saints,"
Newman's "Lives of the English Saints," and to Faber's
"
Lives of the Saints and Servants of God," The first runs
to twelve volumes, the second to fourteen, while the last
needs forty-two to do the subject justice.
On the tombs of ecclesiastics, the effigy has frequently a*
!i v;,'^,^ " .
v < . &
^fe^5"^m^
:^fc =>^*,Sk- VM?
>J
,,:-,; :' i
|L;L!^,,;-
Hll"-" : :::: \
:
w.x ,:' .
-
FIG. 87.
lion at the feet, significative of trampling upon the evil one.

Sometimes it is a dragon instead. In either case it is sug-
"
gested doubtless by the text,
Thou shalt tread upon the
lion and adder, the young lion and the dragon shalt thou
*
trample under foot."
We may, in conclusion, find the lion represented in illu-
minations, stone-carving, etc., in a way that is not symbolic
at all, but historic. Several such examples will readily occur
to the mind of the reader. We need only instance repre-
sentations of Daniel in the lions' den. Even here such
treatments may be considered as in part symbolic very often,
since the particular example we have instanced occurs fre-
quently in the catacombs, and there can be no doubt that,

beyond the illustration of a Bible incident, there was the
recognition also of the general deliverance from evil of those
who trusted in the God of Daniel.
The stag in Christian art is the emblem of solitude and
purity of life. It is the attribute of SS. Hubert, Eustachius,
Aidan, Felix, Julian, and Ida. When associated with the
two former of these, it bears a cross between its antlers, in
allusion to legends that are generally well known, and
somewhat foreign to our present purpose to here detail. It
was also taken as an emblem of religious aspiration, probably
"
from the passage in the Psalms, commencing Like as the
hart panteth after the waterbrooks." The form appears
very commonly in the sculptures and wall paintings in the
catacombs of Rome and elsewhere in early Christian art.
In the old belief that the stag was " a great enemy to all
1
The figures at the feet of monumental effigies are in their intention
at times incomprehensible, though we may ordinarily interpret their
meaning. They will generally fall into one of three classes. The first
of these includes all spiritual enemies to be trodden under foot ; and
these are symbolized by dragons, serpents, basilisks, and all such crea-
tures, mythical or real, as bear evil significance. The second great class
comprises all forms used with heraldic intent, or that are allusive in
character to the name or vocation of the person with whom they are
associated ; such as the two hares at the feet of Bishop Harewell, on
his tomb in Wells Cathedral. The third class comprises emblems of
courage, strength, fidelity, and attachment. Dogs are frequently thus
introduced : that they were often pets may be seen from the collars and
bells attached to them ; on the brass of Sir Bryan
Stapleton the dog's
name " Jakke " is inscribed on the collar.
INTRODUCTION OF THE OK AND ASS. 177
Lyrtonrs to destroy when he finds

kinds of serpents, which
any, though he be afraid of^Qmost all other creatures/' it
became in the days of exaggerated symbolism a still more
popular emblem, its supposed ruthless antipathy to the
serpent rendering it not inaptly a symbol of the Christian
fighting against evil.
The ox was emblematic of patience and strength, and in
the writings of some of the early Fathers ifc is accepted as a
symbol of Christ the true sacrifice ; secondarily of prophets,
apostles, and saints slain for the sake of Christ and in the
;
third place, of all who patiently bear the yoke, and labour
in silence for the good of others. It is the well known
evangelistic symbol attributed to St. Luke, and is also asso-
ciated with SS. Leonard, Sylvester, Medard, Julietta, and
Blandina,
The ox is, together with the ass, almost invariably intro-
duced in representations of the Nativity, partly as natural
accessories when the scene is treated historically, and more
ordinarily as representatives of the homage due to God from
all the creatures of His hand. 1 St. Bernard dwells upon this
idea,and apart from this there is a very ancient tradition

that an ox and ass were actually present at the birth of our
Saviour. Besides this, the two animals were regarded as
being symbolic respectively of the Jews and of the Gentiles.
SS. Germanus and Philibert have the ass as an attribute,
and it kneels before the consecrated wafer borne by St.
Anthony of Padua. It is a firm belief with many ignorant
people that the conspicuous lines that form a cross on the
back of the animal are a memorial of our Saviour's ride
on the creature into Jerusalem, and that in remembrance of
that event the whole race have ever since borne this badge
of honour.
1
In the "Bistoria de Nativitate Marise et de Infantia Salvatoris," we
are told that once when the Holy Child lay upon the lap of His mother
iii a cave in the wilderness, during the flight infco Egypt, dragons and
other noisome creatures of the place came forth from their hidkig-places
and worshipped at His feet ; a poetic fiction that finds its warrant in the
words of St. Dionysins Areopagitica " Such representations are less likely
:
to mislead than those which pretend to ponrtray the actual, since the
former do not profess to contain tbe truth in themselves, and are rejected
at once by the mind, which then passes on at once to the ideal and
spiritual. The mind dwells in and is satisfied with the latter."
" The mother of the eternall Sonne

A Mayd shall be: Salvation
Shall bring the world : yet far from Pride,
Though King He on an asse shall ride."
In an example of French glass of the sixteenth century

we see that the angel who is sounding the trumpet of the
last judgment, at whose dread summons the earth is yield-
ing up her dead, is represented as riding on an elephant that

tramples a man underfoot while on a seal in private hands
;
we see the device of St. Peter bearing the usual keys, and
riding upon an elephant too. The invincible might of the
creature may probably have in each instance led to its intro-
duction. In the latter case it may represent the Church
under the guidance of St. Peter going forth to conquer.
The elephant was long regarded as the emblem of the kingly
rank from a belief that he could not bow his knees, an idea
that is met with from time to time in the old writers.
In Christian art the horse appears as the symbol of three
saints, Anastasius, Hippolytus, and Quirinus. In any repre-
sentations of those saints that approach the pictorial, they
are depicted as being dragged and torn by wild horses. The
horse issometimes regarded as an emblem of courage and
generosity. In the Roman catacombs it ordinarily denotes
the swiftness of life. Sometimes the palm branch of victory
is placed over its head.
SS. Martin, Maurice, Victor, and George are generally
represented on horseback. The latter, as our own patron
saint, will be familiar enough to all for, to quote the Golden
;
Legend, "the blyssyd and holy martyr Saynt George is

patron of this Eealme of Englande," and he is represented
freely on our coinage and elsewhere,
The mythical unicorn was regarded as a symbol of purity
and strength, and is figured in the catacombs. From its
supposed love of solitude it was also a symbol of the mon-
astic life. It is associated too with St. Justina, In our
book "Mythland" we have gone at very considerable length
into the legendary, heraldic, and religious references to the
creature and to this we would beg to refer those of our
;
readers who care to follow out an old belief through its

various phases.
While we in England naturally regard the bear as a
creature only to be seen in zoological gardens, it was in
SYMBOLIC REFERENCES TO THE DOG. 179
is, on the continent a common

earlier days, as it still animal
enough, and the hermits in their caves and woodland soli-
tudes had abundant opportunities of making its acquaintance.
Hence in Christian art we find the bear associated with SS.
Maximinus, Blandina, Florentins, Corbinian, and perhaps
more especially with St, Gall. In this latter case the bear
is
generally represented as carrying a log of wood.
On the
monastery of St. Gull in Switzerland the
seal of the saint is
loaf of
represented sitting on a throne, and offering a small
bread to a bear, who stands on his hind legs and receives the
gift in his two forepaws. The same device is found on the
seal of the town of St. Gallen on a document dated 1300.
Gall
According to the accepted legend it appears that, as St.
was praying in the wilderness on the spot where the famous
he saw
monastery called after him was afterwards erected,
a bear come from the forest and devour the fragments that
remained of his frugal supper. He at once called the beast
before him, and commanded him as some little set off to the
lost meal to fetch some wood forhis fire. The bear retired
to the forest, and shortly emerged with an enormous log,
which he cast upon the embers, whereupon the saint in kindly
the bear a whole
good nature went to his small store, gave
loaf from his scanty supply, and dismissed him in peace.
"
the friend of
Probably one great reason why the dog,
in religious
man," as we call him, is so seldom introduced
art is that an animal that is but mentioned in
it is rarely
the Bible, and when referred to at all is seldom named in
aught but an evil sense. The only indication of their pos-
1
a where the dogs of
sessing any value is in passage in Job,
the flock are referred to, though even here the reference is
somewhat contemptuous. Elsewhere the children of Israel
are told not to bring the price of a dog into the house of the
Lord for any vow. The thankless people of God are com-
pared by Isaiah to dumb dogs,
elsewhere to greedy dogs ;
and in the last chapter of the whole Bible we read that

dogs, sorcerers, murderers,
and idolaters shall be excluded
a com-
1
In the apocryphal book of Tobit the dog figures ful'yas
"And when his
panion. Ver. 16 of chap. v. is a pleasant picture:
son had prepared all things for the journey, his father said,
Go thou with
and
this man, and God, which dwelleth in heaven, prosper your journey,
and tbe
the angel of God keep you company. So they went forth both,
young man's dog with them."
iSo SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
from the paradise of God. It will be naturally objected to

this latter passage that it cannot be taken in any literal
sense; but if the animal be introduced in a symbolic sense, it
only strengthens our assertion that all the associations con-

nected with the dog in the Bible are unfavourable to its
introduction in any art under religious influence. If our
readers will take the trouble to look up some of the passages,
and there are over thirty of them where the animal is ex-
pressly named, they will find that our statement is fully
borne out by the facts. The dog even to the present day
throughout the East occupies a very inferior position. He
is tolerated as a public scavenger, but he calls no man
master, and, prowling as he does with his fellows in large

pacts, goes far to become a public nuisance. In mediaeval
art he is generally intended as a symbol of fidelity. He is
placed at the feet of SS. Bernard, Wendelin, Sira, and Eoch;
while St. Parthenius is represented as slaying a mad dog by
the sign of the cross,
The pig is intended in a good sense as the symbol of St.
Anthony; in an evil sense, as one of the forms in which Safcan
has from time to time appeared. St. Anthony was said to
have been originally a swineherd, and is therefore ordinarily
represented as accompanied by a hog and pigs were in some ;
cases dedicated to him. In Pisano's picture in the National

Gallery of "St. Anthony and St. George," the two saints
confront each other, and at the feet of one is the pig, and
of -the other the vanquished dragon. Amongst the figures
carved in Henry the Seventh's Chapel at Westminster will
be found St. Anthony, a bearded figure in frock and scapular,
and at his side a gaunt pig is standing.
The use of the pig in an evil sense has probably been a
good deal influenced by the Biblical story of the possession
of the herd of swine by the evil spirits cast out from the
1
demoniacs, and by its being included amongst the unclean
beasts forbidden to the chosen people. 2 Such texts again as
that in Proverbs, "As a jewel of gold in a swine's snout,
so is a fair woman which is without discretion," or that in
Matthew against casting pearls before swine, show a ten-
dency towards depreciation of the animal.
1
See Matt. viii. 28 et steq. ; Mark v. 2 et seq.; Luke viii. 27 et *eq.
a See Lev. xi. 7 ; Isa. kv. kvi. 3 and 17.
4,
ANIMALS INTRODUCED Iff EVIL SENSE. iSi
"
Gregory relateth in a dialogue in Lis third book that
when a certain chnrch of the Arians having been restored
to the Orthodox was being consecrated, and
reliques of St.
Sebastian and the blessed Agatha had been conveyed thither,
the people there assembled of a sudden
perceived a swine
to be running to and fro
among their feet: the whicli regain-
ing the doors of the Church could be seen of none, and
moved all to marvel. "Which sign the Lord showed for this
cause, that it
might be manifest to all that the unclean in-
habitant tad gone forth from thnt place. But in the follow-
ing night a great noise was made on the roof of the same
church, as if some one were running confusedly about. The
second night the uproar was much greater. On the third
night also so vast a noise was heard as if the whole church
had been overthrown from its foundations, but it imme-
diately ceased, and no further inquietude of the old Enemy

l
hath appeared in it."
The goat, wolf, fox, and ape were ordinarily employed by
the old writers and sculptors in an evil sense as symbols of
lust, cruelty, and fraud. St. Anthony, for instance, is
repre-
sented as tempted by Satan in the form of a goat.
"
The Wolfe indeede signifieth craft, subtiltie, greedinesse
of mind, inordinate desire of that which appertained to
another, to some discord and sedition : for it is saide how
that the Wolfe procureth all other beasts to fight and con-
tend. He seeketh to devour the sheepe, that beast which
of all other is the most hurtlesse and simple and void of
guile, thirsting continually after their blood: yea, nature

hath implanted so inveterate a hatred atweene the wolf e and
the sheepe, that being dead, yet in the secret operation of
Nature appeareth there a sufficient trial of their discording
natures, so that the enmitie betweene them seemeth not to
dye with their bodies for if there be put vpon a harpe,
:
or any such like instrument, strings made of the intrailles

of a sheepe, and amongst them but only one made of the
intrailles ofa wolfe, be the musician never so cunning in his
skilyet can he not reconcile them to an vnity and concord
of sounds, so discording always is that string of the wolfe.
It may well likewise denote the seditious persons, of which
sort if there be but one in a whole commonwealth yet he is
1
Dur&ndus.
able to disturb the quiet concord and agreement of many

thousands of good subjects, even as one string of that beast
is able to confound the harmony of many other well tuned
strings."
In Scandinavian mythology the wolf is the bringer of
victory, and amongst
the Romans, from its association with
Romulus and Remus, it was held in honour ; but the extract
we have just given from Feme, a mediae val writer on
heraldry, very fairly reflects the feeling of the Middle Ages,
and helps
to account for its evil repute.
Though every allusion to the wolf in the Bible is of an

unfavourable nature, the creature is often in the legendary
history of the saints represented in a favourable light, doubt-
less with the idea of making the miracle still more miracu-
"
lous. He is in the Bible the "grievous wolf," the ravening
wolf," the "fierce evening wolf"; while to St. Vedast he
brings a goose in his mouth, and to St. Mark a ram's skin
(in each case, we fear, making the saint a receiver of stolen
goods). He guards the dead body of St. Carpophorus and
that of our own St. Edmund until they receive fit interment
and the last rites of the Church.
We often in the Middle Ages find bitter and satirical evi-
dences of the feud between the various orders of clergy and
the itinerant friars, leading to such representations as a fox
preaching to geese, an ass's head beneath the cowl, a
monkey at prayers, a fox with the mitre and staff of the
bishop. These illustrations, whatever may be lacking of

grace, or frequently even of decorum, are often pungent and
graphic in the extreme, and remain as curious records in
our old churches of this strong antagonism. The following
titlefrom a book written by one of our bishops, but secretly
printed under an assumed name at Zurich in 1543, is a good
literary illustration of the opprobrious use of the fox in theo-
"
logical controversy YET A COURSE AT THE ROMYSHE FOXE,
:
A DYSCLOSYNGE OB OPENING OF THE MANNE OF SYNNE, Con-

tayned in the late Declaratyon of the Popes old Faythe, made
by Edmonde Bonner, Byshopp of London. Whereby Wyl-
lyam Tolwyn was than newlye professed at Paules Crosse
openlye into Antichristes Romyshe Relygyon agayne by a
newe Solempne Othe of obedyence, notwythstadnge the
Othe made to hys Prynce afore to the contrarye."
While the predatory disposition and crafty policy of the
THE HYMN OF CREATION. 183
fox rendered the creature an apt emblem where such features

had, "with more or less of charity, to be satirised, the monkey
and ape were rather the symbols of indecorum and of unseemly
lerity though in a fourteenth century window in the north,
;
aisle of the nave of York Minster we find them (very excep-
tionally) introduced in an entirely different spirit, playing

on musical instruments as a part of the great choir of crea-
tion: "Praise the Lord from the earth, ye dragons and all
deeps: beasts, and all cattle; creeping things, and flying
. . .
"
fowl." Praise Him with the sound of the trumpet praise
:
Him with the psaltery and harp. Let everything that

. . .
hath breath praise the Lord."

CHAPTER X.
The Dove The SevenfoldGifts of the Spirit The Pelican" Armorie

of Honour*' Extracts from Skelton and Guillim Phoenix Eagle
" " Swan Owl
Peacock Coek Mystical Mirrour of the Church
'Baven Magpie Hen and Chickens Vine Palm White Lily
Passion Flower Amaranth Eose Olive Tree of Jesse Yew.
AMONGST bird forms the dove, the symbol of the Holy Spirit,
is most freely met wifch in art. Such distinct Bible refer-
ences as that in Matthew iii. 16, where upon the baptism of
Christ "the Spirit of God descending like a dove," or in the
words of St. Luke, <e the Holy Ghost descended in bodily
shape like a dove," are an ample wai*rant and justification
of the symbol. See figs. 26, 56, 69, 85, 88, 89. Doves of carved
wood are frequently found on font covers in our old English
parish churches, and probably in former days no font would
have been considered duly complete without such a symbol
of the sacramental rite, and of the presence of the Holy
Spirit in it. The symbol is one of the few that have fully re-
tained their place and meaning throughout the centuries down
to the present day, and it is as intelligible to us now as to
the Christians in the earliest ages of the Church. The three
scenes in which the figure most freely occurs are in repre-
sentations of the baptism of Christ, of the annunciation of
the Yirgin, and of the creation of the world, though we also
see it introduced hovering over the heads of the saints of
God as the inspirer of noble thoughts, or at times resting
on their shoulders. In the picture by Borgognone of the
" "
Coronation of the Yirgin all the persons of the Trinity
are present and here, as elsewhere, when any event which
;
concerns all the Persons of the Godhead is represented, the

Holy Spirit, with but few exceptions, is in the form of a dove.
Examples are so numerous that it seems scarcely worth
while to particularize at any length. As three typical ex-
184
SYMBOLIC USE OF THE DOVE. 185
"
amples however we may mention the Baptism of Christ,"
"
by Francesca, in the National Gallery; the Annunciation,"
in the same collection, by Crivelli ; and the " St. Peter of
Alcantara," by Zurbaran. (fig. 89). In the last example
the dove is hovering over the saint, while in a statne at
Chartres Cathedral of Pope Gregory the Great the dove is
FIG. 88,
on his shoulder, holding commune with him, and inspiring

holy thoughts.
Sometimes in old work (as in fig. 90)
we find a ring of
a
seven doves surrounding figure but ;
the significance is
the
the reference to the though in this
same, is still Holy Spirit,
case the sevenfold gifts of the Spirit are more especially
1
emphasised.
1
At other times the symbol 'for these gifts is a group of seven lamps,
" There were seven
in illustration of the passage : lamps of fire burning
before the throne, which are the seven spirits of God."
Fio. 89.
SYMBOLIC USE OF THE DOVE. 187
In Isaiah xi, 2 we have in the Authorized Version but

" The wisdom
six of these Divine gifts mentioned : spirit of
and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the
"
spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the
Lord ; but in
"
the Vulgate rendering of this passage we have Sapientia,
Intellects, Consilium, Fortitude, Scientia, Pietas, Timor,"
Authority is the attribute of God the Father ; and as ruler
of all things He bears the orb, the symbol of universal sway.
Love is the attribute of God the Son hence as Redeemer of
;
the children of men He bears the cross of Calvary. Know-

is the attribute of God the Holy Spirit; hence
ledge special
He bears the book, the symbol of intelligence and reason.
He is the instructor of the ignorant, the illuminator of the
blind, the Spirit of truth to abide with man for ever.
The
wisdom reveals God to man the spirit of under-

Spirit of ;
standing teaches us about ;

Him
the Spirit of counsel teaches
us to distinguish good from evil; the Spirit of strength
of
enables us fearlessly to struggle for the right ; the Spirit
into the way of peace the Spirit of god-
knowledge guides ;
liness gives us love ; the Spirit of fear teaches us humility,

and the reverence dne to the great King.
In a more general sense, the dove becomes the symbol of
all believers. Such a text as "be harmless as doves"
ye
would naturally suggest the idea. Doves are generally
of gnilelessness, gentle-
employed in the Bible as the symbols
ness, innocence, and faithfulness. David, in the midst of his
troubles, dreams of a haven of peace,
and sighs for the wings
of a dove, that he might flee away from earthly turmoil to
celestial rest. Other passages will be found
in the Canticles,
Jeremiah, Bzekiel, Hosea, Nahum,

and elsewhere.
Isaiah,
Doves as emblems of believers figure largely in the cata-
tSS SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
combs of Rome, and throughout early Christian art. As

emblems of conjugal affection sometimes two are placed
together.
On the martyrdom of St. Polycarp the legend tells us that
his blood extinguished the flames that surrounded him, and
that from the ashes arose a white dove which flew heaven-
ward out of sight. In representations of St. Celest'inand St.
Cunibert the dove is whispering in their ear the heavenly
message; to St. Albert it brings the eucharistic elements; to
St. Agnes, virgin bride of heaven, a ring to St. Kemigius, a ;
cruse of oil
olive branch in its mouth points to its
The dove with the
associationwith the receding waters of the Deluge, and is
thus an emblem of restoration to prosperity and peace.
The though without Biblical authority, and only
pelican,
having its
symbolic meaning based upon an error in natural
history, is perhaps, next to the dove, the most familiar of
bird symbols.
The pelican is in an especial manner a Christian symbol,
an emblem of the Redeemer of mankind and we know
; of no
instance of its use with any symbolic meaning in pre-Chris-
tian times. The bird has at the tip of its long bill a crimson
spot, and this gave rise to the belief amongst the older
naturalists that the while really pruning its'
pelican,
feathers, was feeding
young with
itsits own blood. It is
the symbol therefore of loving sacrifice. Hence Dantq
" !
calls the Saviour nostro pelicano." In the black-letter
" " "
Bibliotheca Biblia we read that the Pelicane, whose
sons are nursed with blonde, stabbeth deep her breast, self-
mnrtheresse through fondnesse to hir broode." Shake-
" "
sperian students again will recall the lines in Hamlet :
" To his
good friends thus wide TIL ope my arms,
And, like the kind, life-rend'ring pelican,
1
Befresh them with my blood.'
" 4
While in the Giaour' of Byron we find allusion to

" The desert bird
whose beak unlocks her bosom's stream,
To still her famished nestlings' scream."
1
In the inventory of the goods of Westminster Abbey of the year 1510
we mention of a " Crosse Staff of Syluer Gylt withe the Salutacon
find
thereon and a Pelycan," the latter the symbol and type of the coming
Messiah (Luke i.42).
THE PELICAN AS A SYMBOL. 189
"
In the Account of the Antieiit Rites and Monuments oE
the Monastic Church of Durham," as they existed before the
suppression, written in 1S93, we read "At the north end of
:
the high altar there was a goodly fine letteron of brass, with
a great pelican on the height of it, finely gilt, billing her
blood out of her, breast to feed her yonng ones, and her
wings spread abroad, whereon lay the book. Also there
was, lower down in the choir, another letteron of brass, with
an eagle on the height of it, and her wings spread abroad,
whereupon the monks laid their books." The first of these
was for the epistle and gospel, the second for the lessons.
In the year 1649 an enthusiastic admirer of Charles I.,
and an evident believer in the idea that he shed his blood for
"
his people, wrote a book on that king, entitling him The
Princely Pelican."
A variation in the mediaeval pelican legend may occasion-
ally be met with, where, instead of the yonng being nourished
by the blood of the bird, their dead bodies are restored by it
to life. Whichever reading we accept has equally valuable
symbolic meaning, though the generally accepted version
is the more
pleasing. The alternative reading we quote
from BossewelPs "Armorie of Honour "is as follows:
"
The pellicane feruently loueth her young byrdes. Yet
when thei ben haughtie, and beginne to waxe hote, they
smite her in the face and wounde her, and she smiteth them
and slaeth them. And after three daies she mourneth for
them, and then striking herself in the side till the bloode
rtinne out, she sparpleth it upon their bodyes, and by vertue
therof they quicken againe." J
" "
We find the same idea again in the Armorie of Birds
of Skelton :
" Then sayd the Pellycaue :
When my Byrdts be alayne,

With my Blonde I them reTyve.
Scripture doth record,
The same dyd onr Lord,
And rose from deth to lyre."
1 '
Le pelican est nn oiseau merveilleux qni habite les bords du Nil.
a
Quand les petits da pelican sont devenus grands ils frappent leur pre
dans sa colere les tne. Mais trois jours apres
coups de bee, et celuici
il revient vers eux, se d6chire le flanc
avec son bee, et son sang repandu
to ses petits les rappelle a la vie." GUILLIII.
IQO SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
Though all belief in the phoenix has been for some cen-
turies exploded, that mythic fowl was firmly believed in by
the ancients Pliny, Ovid, and many other writers giving full
;
details of its mysterions existence. As we have in onr

"
"Mythland fully gone into the whole subject, we forbear to
do so afresh, contenting ourselves here with just explaining
that the ancient belief was that the phoenix, after living a
thousand years or so, committed itself to the flames that
burst at the fanning of its wings from the funeral pyre of
costly spices that it had itself constructed, and that from its
ashes a new phoenix arose to life. Tertullian, one of the
FIG. 91.
early writers of the Christian Church, in all good faith

accepts it as a most marked and evident symbol of the
resurrection and of eternity. The phoenix is represented
in some of the earliest Christian mosaics in the churches
of Rome, and often has a
star-shaped nimbus.
The powerful heavenward flight of the eagle, fixing its
gaze upon the snn, has made it a very natural symbol in
Christian art of the Ascension, while it is still more
widely
employed and far more commonly recognised as the symbol
of St. John. SS. Medard and Bertulph are
represented in
art as sheltering beneath an
eagle with outstretched wings ;
and St, Servatius, sleeping in the hot

sunlight, is shaded
THE PEACOCK, COCK, AND SWAN. 191
and fanned by the pinions of an eagle that hovers over

him.
The peacock, like the dove, is a very favourite form in
Byzantine art ; though now-a-days thought of rather as an

emblem of vanity or pride, it was in earlier days regarded as
a symbol of the Resurrection. Hence it is generally repre-
sented as standing upon a small ball or globe, the glorified
all mundane cares.
spirit rising above Many good examples1
of it may be seen in the mosaics of Eavenna and Venice.
(Fig. 91 is from an early Christian monument
at Athens.)
The peacock was regarded as an emblem of the resurrec-
tion, from the yearly changing and renewal of its brilliant
feathers, and from an old belief in the incorruptibility
of its
flesh.
The cock is another very ancient symbol. If associated
with any representation of the denial of Christ by St. Peter,
it
signifies repentance,
since the crowing of this bird awoke
the time-serving apostle to a sense of the depth to which
he had fallen. At other times it is employed as a symbol of
vigilance. In the "Mystical Mirrour of the Church," by
"
Hugo de Saucto Victore, we learn that the cock repre-
senteth the preacher. For the cock in the deep watches of
the night divideth the hours thereof with his song, and
arouseth the sleepers. He foretelleth the approach of day,
but first he stirreth up himself to crow by the striking of
his wings. Behold ye these things mystically, for not one
of them is there without meaning. The sleepers be the
children of this world, lying in sins. The cock is the com-
do stir up the
pany of preachers, which do preach sharply,
to cast the works of darkness, which also do
away
sleepers
coming of the light, when they preach
foretell the of the
But wisely before
Day of Judgment and of future glory.
rouse themselves by virtue
they pleach unto others do they
from the sleep of sin and do chasten their bodies."
The swan figures but rarely in Christian art. It is repre-
sented by the side of St. Hugh, St. Ludger, and St. Cuthbert.
"
We find a curious passage in Foxe's Book of Martyrs,"
1
Even to medieval days examples of its use are not uncommon.
Thus for instance in an inventory of the property of Westminster Abbey,
" rotulas m rostns
made in the year 1388, we find an alb cum paYonibus
"
tenentibus," and another vestment
embroidered cum floribus et avuras
viridibus pavonibus et bestijs anreis."

T92 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
wherein, speaking of the martyrdom of Euss, lie tells us

that he said, "You are now going to hum a goose (the name
of Huss signifying a goose in the Bohemian language), but
in a century you will have a swan, whom you -can neither
roast nor boil." Foze goes on to say that "if this were
spoken in prophecy he must have meant Martin Luther, who
shone about one hundred years after, and who had a swan
for his arms, whether suggested by this circumstance or of
family descent and heraldry is not known."

"
A mediaeval moralist says that swans are looked upon as
symbols of hypocrites, because they have fine wings, and yet
can scarce raise themselves from the earth, so that they are
of no use to them; besides the feathers of a swan are white
to perfection, but their flesh is very black, as are the hypo-
crites, appearing outwardly virtuous, and being inwardly

very wicked."
In religious art the owl is associated with the idea of
<k
mourning and desolation. The owle betokeneth alwaies
some heavie newes, and is most execrable and accursed. He
keepeth ever in the deserts, and is the verie monster of the
night, neither crying nor singing out cleare, but uttering a
certaine heavie grone of dolefull raoning. Therefore if he be
seene within citties or otherwise abroad in any place it is
not good, but prognosticated some fearfull misfortune/* We
"
see the same idea again in Shakespeare : Out on ye owls !
Nothing but songs of death!" and another well-known

passage in llacbeth will readily occur to our readers.
In some cases no doubt the Christian symbolism was a
deliberate reaction from the pagan. Thus the owl, as the
bird of Athene, was held in especial esteem by the Athenians,
who claimed that goddess as the patron and founder of their
city, and stamped her emblem on their coinage. Hence
therefore the early Christians would feel an objection to
the introduction of the bird. The raven again, the standard
of the Norsemen, and amongst the classic nations a bird
dedicated to the sun-god Apollo, was, like the magpie,
held in later days to be a symbol of ill fortune. When
these birds therefore are introduced in Christian art,
they
ordinarily reflect the prevalent idea; thus in some MSS.
they are represented as perching in the tree from whence
Eve gathers the forbidden fruit. The association of the
raven with the story of the
subsiding Deluge has also made
THE HEN AND CHICKENS. 193
it an emblem of wandering and unrest. It is connected with

the legendary history of some few saints ;
it is placed at
the feet of St. Benedict, it bears a ring in its mouth to St.
Ida, brings a letter to St. Oswald, and guards the body of
the sainted martyr Vincent.
FIG, 92.
chickens, as an emblem of God's providence,

The hen and
are sometimes met with in old sculptures on ecclesiastical
buildings,Their introduction evidently springs from that
that shows us the infinitely tender
passage in the Bible
Redeemer mourning over the guilty city of Jerusalem, and
its inhabitants so willed it, God's good
declaring that, had
would have been to them a shield and sure
providence
as the hen gathers her
defence, an effectual succour, even
young beneath her wings, and guards them from every
harm.
Many oilier animal forms might have been referred to,

the spotless ermine and the stork, the emblem of filial piety,
until in descending scale we reached the ant, the emblem of
of busy forethonght but
industry, and the bee, the symbol ;
it is scarcely desirable, in pity to our readers, to make an
exhaustive catalogue, so we pass now to a consideration of

some few of the plants that have had symbolic meaning
attached to them in Christian art.
The vine as a symbol of Christ, based upon His own
words, "I am the Vine," has at all times been freely
employed. Often, as on the tomb of the empress Con-
stantia, the sister of Constantine, it is the sole symbol of
the Christian faith. In the early Christian mosaics (as in
fig. 92)
the vine plays a conspicuous part and we see in
;
Fra. 93.
these early workslow persistently, in the well nigh exclu-

symbols as the vine and the Good Shepherd,
sive use of such
the mind of the Church then dwelt almost solely on the
risen Lord.
The vine is several times employed in the Old Testament
as a symbol of the chosen people : " A
vine Thou didst
bring out of Egypt. Thou castedst out the nations, and
plantedst it. Thou preparedst the ground for it; and it
spreads its roots and filled the land. The mountains were
covered with its shade, and with its tendrils the lofty cedars."
Sometimes it is used in a general sense as expressive of
temporal blessing, as in the benediction of Jacob by Isaac.
"
God give thee of the dew of heaven, the fatness of the
"
earth, and plenty of corn and wine or later on as an
;
emblem of the joyous, festive innocence of the Christian

THE PALM BRANCH OF VICTORY. 195
life. It is also often found as one of the symbols of the

Eucharist.
The palm, the symbol of victory, is one of the earliest of
Christian symbols, and commemorates, times without num-
ber, in the catacombs the triumph of the martyrs for the
faith. 1 In the darkness of these subterranean vaults, to the
survivors it bore testimony of conflict past and death van-
quished, as in fig. 94, while in the light of heaven we see
it recognised and honoured as a testimony for evermore of
FU IOVIN/L. qyAE vnor . .
'ANN15.TRIBVS. D.XXXILDEPOJj
the faithful unto

victory won, where the great army of
death, out of every nation and kindred and people, stand
before the eternal throne, clothed in spotless white and
bearing the palms of victory in their hands.
" "
In the Peter Martyr of Titian, the saint looks up to
heaven in expectation of speedy death, while hovering over-
1
In fig. 93, a gem of about 380 A,D., we Lave an interesting repre-
sentation of the martyrdom of a follower of Christ. The sacred mono-
dove and
gram indicates her Lord's presence in her time of need, the^
olive branch point to ths rest and peace into which she is soon to
enter, and at her feet is the victor's palm.
ig6 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
head a cherub bears a palm branch ;

and in the " Massacre
of the Innocents," by Gtiido Beni, in the clouds above the
scene of violence and bloodshed two cherubs bear larg
bundles of the palm branches in their arms.
FIG, 95. .
FIG. 96.
Itwas an ancient belief that the palm tree would always

grow erect, no matter how it might be weighted or pulled
aside, hence it was a favourite emblem in the Middle .Ages of
triumph over adversity. Mary Queen of Scots adopted it
> 97- PIG. 98.
for instance, in this sense ; and on the frontispiece of the

" "
Eikon Basilike we amongst many other emblems, a
see,
palm tree standing erect, with two heavy weights attached
to it, and the legend, " Crescit sub
" pondere virtus," and the
"
Explanation of the Embleme :
!:!Ht
*: $f$:^;3W'
;
iMp^:>^
&&"*$&.?*$/..
</#'* "
'
'.
' '
'\ ,"5fe"- ;
.'-"','
ff ..IT
'i't
f 'MV>V;\
'
m"'
x\Kl -^ j,^J
'-O*
'
,
1
.
^ .
-
m\to
'
tv. *
r, -
^R^s1^ 1.*
-
-^ ~**e*~ ,
iS&s
V
,^:" ^v
^M^J:..
ig8 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.
"
Though clogged with weights of miseries,
*
Palm-like depressed I higher rise."
The palm is also associated with the triumphant entry of

Christ into Jerusalem, commemorated thereafter as Palm
2
Sunday. It was the special emblem of Judaea.
The white lily, or annunciation lily, from its association in
art with the Virgin Mary, is one of the Commonest of floral
symbols. The fragrance, purity of colour, and beauty of

the flower render it a most appropriate emblem. Abundant
examples of the association of this flower with the Virgin
mother may be found in the National Gallery and else-
where, so that it is almost needless to particularize special
instances. 3 In Roman Catholic countries the snowdrop is,
from a similar motive, dedicated to the Virgin Mary and on ;
the festival of the Annunciation in March, when white lilies
are not procurable, her altars are decked with it.

The passion flower is freely used in modern work to
symbolise, as its name implies, the passion of our Lord. It
is a good illustration of that
exaggerated symbolism that one
so often encounters, in that straining after analogy that sees
a wealth of meaning in the most natural and ordinary of
arrangements. The ten members composing the perianth
of the flower, we are told, represent the apostles, Peter being
absent because he deceived his Master, and Judas because he
betrayed Him. The rays within the flowers are the nimbus
1
For many curious illustrations of such like old fancies the reader
may advantageously turn to the " Symbolorum et Emblematum ex Be
"
Herbaria, Animalibus Volatilibus Aquatilibus et Insectus de Sumtorurn
of Camerarius, or to the 4t Symbola divina et humana," the first
being
issued in the year 1654, and the second in 1666.
3
We may see this very well illustrated in figs. 95, 96, 97, repre-
senting coins struck by the Bomans on the defeat of the Jews and the
destruction of Jerusalem.
"Beneath her palm, here sad Judsea weeps." POPE.

In fig. 95 we see two captives at the foot of the
symbolic palm ; and
fig. 96 is very similar, except that the place of one of the captives is
taken by a Boman soldier. In fig. 97 a winged figure of Victory in-
scribes the SPQB on the shield, in token of the
subjugation of Judsea
by the armies of Borne. Fig. 98 gives the obverse of this coin, 'and
shows us the laurel-crowned head of the conqueror, the
emperor
8
Fig. 99 will suffice as an illustration ;
it is taken from a bas-relief
by Andrea della Bobbia.
THE AMARANTH AND THE ROSE, 199
or glory. The ovary is supposed to resemble a hammer,

while the three styles with their rounded heads are the
nails, the five stameiis being the five wounds. Though the
passion flower is now not uncommon, our readers will remem-
ber that it was introduced from abroad ; hence it does not
occur in early English art in our cathedrals, illuminations,
or elsewhere.
The immortal amaranth has a 1
literary rather than an
artistic existence. Clement of Alexandria refers to it as the
"
amaranthus flos, symbolum immortalitatis." The name is
derived from two Greek words, signifying not withering.
The passage in our New Testament, " a crown of glory that
fadeth not away" is in the original Greek "the amaranthine
crown of glory."
The rose is only twice referred to in the Bible, and the
commentators are generally agreed that the plant so called
has been wrongly named. One reference will be found in
"
the Song of Solomon, I am the rose of Sharon, and the
"
lily of the valleys while the second is in Isaiah, where
;
we read that when the kingdom of righteousness shall be

established on earth, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as
the rose.
Though the rose was known in Syria, and one species, the
damask, takes name from Damascus, the word trans-
its
lated rose in the Bible indicates a bulbous-rooted plant. The

plant intended was probably the narcissus, a flower that is
abundant throughout Syria.

Amongst the various flowers consecrated to the Virgin
" Paradise
*
Milton introduces it several times in the Lost," as for
example :
" The multitude of Angels, with a shout

Loud as from numbers without number, sweet
As from blest voices, uttering joy Heaven rung
With jubilee, and loud hosannas filled
'
The eternal regions. Lowly reverent

Towards either throne they bow, and to thejground
With solemn adoration down they cast
Their crowns, inwove with amaranth and gold,
Immortal amaranth, a flower which once
In Paradise, fast by the Tree of Life
Began to bloom, but, soon for Man's offence
To Heaven removed where first it grew, there grows
And flowers aloft, shading the Eount of Life."
a
by our forefathers, the rose occupies conspicuous position,
and amongst the numerous titles bestowed upon her we
find that of Santa Maria della Eosa. This title therefore
in various continental collections,
is given to several pictures
in which a rose is placed either in her hand or in that of
her Divine Son. We may see a good example of the intro-
duction of this flower, together with the white lily, in one
of the pictures of the Virgin and Child, by Benozzo Gozzoli,
in our own National Gallery. The Virgin is hailed in some
books of devotion the Eosa Cseli, the Rose of Heaven, or
the Mystic Hose,
The rose figures again in
the legendary history of St.
Dorothea, who suffered martyrdom under the government
of Fabricius, and who converted afterwards one Theophilus
to the Christian faith by sending him some roses from
Paradise. It is also associated with SS. Casllda, Elizabeth
of Portugal, Rose of Viterbo, Rose of Lima, Rosalia, Vic-
1
Angelus, Francis, and several others.
toria,
The olive has been celebrated from the earliest ages. It
must have been known before the flood, as the dove returned
to Noah in the ark with a leaf of it in her mouth. There
can be little doubt of this incident having been the origin
of the recognition of the plant as the emblem of peace and
good-will. It is frequently mentioned in the Scriptures.
Jacob, for instance, poured the oil of the olive on the

memorial pillar that he set up in Bethel, and the Promised
Land was to be " a land of wheat, and barley, and vines,
and fig trees, and pomegranates a land of oil olive, .and
;
honey." The holy anointing oil of the Temple was olive oil,
scented with myrrh, cinnamon, sweet calamus, and cassia.
As sacred history made the olive emblematic of peace, so
from its great value to man has it been also considered the
1 "
For als moclie as a fayre Mayden was blamed with wrong and
sclaundered sehe was demed to the dethe, and to be brent in that place
to the whiche sche was ledde. And as the Fyre began to burne about
hire sche made hire Preyers to our Lord, that als wisely as sche was not
gylty of that Synne, the he wold helpe hire and make it to be knownen
to alle men of his mercifolle Grace. And whan sche hadde thus sayde
sche entered into the Fuyre, and anon was the Fuyr quenched and
oute; and t}ie Branddes that were brennynge beoomen rede Roses, and
they that were not kyndled becomen white Roses. And these were the
first roses, both white and rede that ever ony man saughe."
REPRESENTATIONS OF TREE OF JESSE. 201
sign and expression of plenty. As a symbol in one or

other of these senses we thus find it on the coins of those
countries where the plant is not a native. Our own Bri-
tannia, for instance, holds in her hand the olive branch of
peace and good-will on some of the coinage of previous
reigns.
In Christian art the old illuminators and
glass-painters
often represented the
genealogy of Christ under the form of
a tree, the tree of Jesse, in allusion to that text in Isaiah
where it states that "there shall come forth a rod out of the
stem of Jesse, and a branch shallgrow out of his roots."
Jesse is represented as recumbent, and the tree springs from
his loins, spreading into luxuriant foliage and bearing on its
numerous branches the various royal and other pei*sonages
who are mentioned in the first chapter of St. Matthew's
Gospel. The name of each is usually inscribed on a label
in close proximity to the figure, and crowning all, at the
summit of the tree is the Virgin Mary in an aureole, bearing
in her arms the Divine Son. Sometimes, though more
rarely, the tree terminates in a cross bearing the dying
Christ. The tree of Jesse first appears as a device in the
twelfth century, and in the thirteenth and fourteenth cen-
turies becomes exceedingly popular, occurring in stained
glass, mural paintings, illuminated manuscripts, sculpture,

wood carving, and embroidery. 1 The foliage is often that
of the vine, the symbol of spiritual fruitfulness, and allusive
"
to Him who said, I am the Vine, ye are the branches."
The Celtic priesthood regarded the yew as an emblem of
immortality, and therefore planted it in their sacred groves.
It has been conjectured that the early Christian churches
were of set purpose erected on the sites of the old heathen
shrines as a more distinctive token of the supplanting of
the old creed the new, and that in that case some of the
by
magnificent oldyew trees seen in many country churchyards
'*
be relics of a yet older faith. In Brady's Clavis
may " "
Calendaria we read that amongst our superstitious fore-
fathers the palm tree or its substitutes, box or yew, were
"A with a Jesse, tbe

cope of blewe velvett rychely embrothered
1
of the Jesse heyng garnysshed with perle." Inventory, West-

ymages
A.D. 1245, we find
minster Abbey, A.D. 1540. In inventory of St. Paul's,
" bene breudata Jesse.'
a "Jesse ûam dedit Bex," and a red cope
solemnly "blessed on Palm Sunday and some of their

branches burnt to ashes and used on Ash Wednesday in the
following year, while others were gathered
and distributed
amongst the pious, who bore them in procession." Caxton
in 1483 also shows that the yew was a substitute in these
northern regions for the palm for he says in his book on the
;
Church festivals, " but for that we have none olyve, there-
fore we take yew instead of palm olyve."
Many of the ancient and mediaeval beliefs in various
branches of natural history affected theologians and artists,
and gave rise to symbols that lived for awhile but when
;
the false ideas upon which they were based were corrected
(though the myth of the pelican is a marked instance to the
contrary), the symbols in most cases lost their force, and
were discarded.
It is manifest that we have but referred to some few of
the more common vegetable forms. In some cases, as in
the apples presented to a king for the restoration of his
sight by St. Malachy, a plant may only once appear in Chris-
.tian symbolism. It is impossible to extend our remarks to
such a length as would include all these exceptional cases.
" "
In other legends flowers alone are mentioned, without any
attempt at distinction of species, while many well-known
references, such as the withering grass, the fading flower,
the purging hyssop, the parable of the wheat and the tares,
and the illustration of the grain sown in the earth as a
symbol of the resurrection of the dead, are very familiar
to us, but scarcely appear in art representation, and are
therefore somewhat outside the limits of our work.
CHAPTER XT.
The fish Jonah as a type of the Resurrection -EbCallop Shell Pil-

grimages The Crocodile Water Exorcism Salt The Bock
The Ship The Ark of Noah Anchor The Sun The Moon The
abodes of the Archangels Orescent of Byzantium The Stars The
Star as symbol of Christ Star of the East Representations of the
Seasons and Months Signs of the Zodiac Geometrical Forms
The Equilateral Triangle Octagon The Pantalpha Interlacing
Circles Fylfot Stanracin Patterns based on the Gamma The
Y of Pythagoras Triquetra Conclusion.
THE multitudinous forms of the earth have supplied us with
numerous illustrations of their symbolic use. We
turn now
to the great water depths, and find in sea and river further
examples of emblematic forms, and to the firmament of
heaven in search of the lessons taught by the revolving
seasons and the starry host.
Men have naturally, in the earlier days, given the greater
attention to the more distinctive and prominent forms.
Thus while the lamb, the lion, wolf, horse, fox, eagle, and
many other animal forms are introduced, the list of sym-
bolic plants is a much shorter one. This is still more
marked when we pass to marine creatures, where one or two
conventional types do duty for all the finny denizens of the
deep, while the eschallop shell sums up its conchology.
It is as an emblem of our Lord that the fish is .most abun-
dantly met with in Christian art. St. Augustine and Ter-
tullian both refer to the fish as an emblem of Christ, and
Clement of Alexandria enumerates the fish, the anchor, the
to be em-
ship, dove, lyre, and fisherman, as fitting objects
ployed by the Christians on their seals and lamps.
When
it was discovered that the letters in the Greek word for a
"
fish are the initials of Jesus ^Christ, the Son of God, the
Saviour," the symbol at once sprang into use. Though the
the Greek Church

fish symbol arose from the Greek word,
never adopted it It is found in the Latin communion alone.
In fig. 100 the Church, in the form of a ship, is borne by
Christ amidst the storm and stress of life. It is somewhat
curious that such a symbol should have held its ground so
lone, since it sprang merely from a verbal, or rather a literal
coincidence, and that too of a somewhat forced nature. It
had nothing of the poetical feeling of that beautiful symbol,
the Lamb, nor did it express, like the lion, anything of the
FIG. 100.
royal majesty of the great King of kings. The form was

based on no allusion in any text, and the difference and dis-
tance between the cold-blooded and apathetic creature of
the waters and the Creator, the Lord of all, who suffered
so freely for the sheep of His pasture, is something infinitely
great, and would, we should have thought, have led men

earlier to feel how unworthy the symbol was of One so
infinitely tender, One so immeasurably -exalted.

The fish was sometimes applied secondarily as a symbol
of believers, and -we find the
early Fathers of the Church
writing of their flocks as pisciculi, since they cast off the
SYMBOLIC USE OF THE FISH. 205
former life and became new creatures as they emerged from

the waters of baptism. 1 Tertullian says, "We are" born in
water like the fish"; and Clement speaks of Christ as
"
drawing fish out of the waters of sin." It is one of the
earliestsymbols employed, being freely found on the sepul-
chral slabs in the catacombs of Rome, often alone, but some-
times with the wreath or crown, the emblem of triumph
won through Christ, as in fig. 101; sometimes with the
anchor, as in fig. 102, the emblem of a sure and certain hope
of the resurrection. The name piscina, given to the bap-
tismal font, is derived from the Latin word for a fish.
Jonah, as a type of the resurrection, is freely introduced
in early art, and the big fish, his attribute, is always asso-
ciated with him in these representations. Kg. 103, a gem
VENEMERENTI QVAE VIXtF

AWNIS LI MES IDVS V DIEBV5
FIG. 101.
of the fourth century, is a very quaint illustration of this.

As is common in much archaic art, several independent inci-
dents are into one composition, in defiance
grouped together
of the possibilities. Thus in the present example we get
the prophet three times over : we see him sitting beneath
his sheltering gourd, tossed to the great sea-monster, and,
to the men of Nineveh.
finally, preaching repentance
The fish is introduced in the legeuds of many saints, and
a fish is
may be seen duly figured in art. To St. Congall Asso-
an and to St. Walter by a bird.
brought by angel,
ciated with St. Mauritius we have a fish with a key in its
mouth. St. Zeno has one hanging from his crozier. The
is the
Another very favourite reference to baptism in the catacombs
1
of the of the Israelites through the Bed Sea, as

representation passage '
land.
the first step toward entrance to the promised
is borne up in the water by their

corpse of St. Chrysogomus
and St. of Padua is represented as preaching
aid, Anthony
to a congregation of fish,.
Fro. 102.
The dolphin is often introduced in art as a symbol of

maritime power, btit it finds no place in Christian symbolism.
The escallop shell (fig. 104) is more particularly associated
in religious art with St. James the Greater. In represen-
tations of the saint the shell is either held in the hand or

fastened on the hat, cloak, or wallet, St, Felix, a less
THE BADGES OF THE PILGRIM. 207
widely known preacher of the faith, though, like St. James,

one of the noble army of martyrs for that faith, is
repre-
sented as laid npon a bed of shells.
Every pilgrimage had its special symbol, which sign the
pilgrim on his retnrn wore conspicuously, that all might
know that he had accomplished that particular pilgrimage,
That for the Holy Land was the cross and it had this dis-
;
tinction above all others, that it was worn as a

special sign
directly the vow to visit the sacred land was made. Some
even branded it with a hot iron upon their breasts in their
enthusiasm, until a rubric was inserted in the "Officium Pere-
"
grinorum forbidding the practice. When the pilgrim had
fulfilled his vow and had visited the Holy Land, he was
entitled to wear the palm, and was hence termed a palmer. 1
FIG. 104.
The pilgrimage to Rome, the centre of the religion and

civilization of the West, was held in next highest esteem.
Many shrines were there visited, each indicated by a special
of St. Peter and
sign the chief of these were the figures
;
St. Paul, the cross-keys, and the vemicle or kerchief of St.

"
Veronica. Hence we find that the pardoner in Chaucer, a
"
vernicle hadde he served in his cappe," for he strait was
comen from the court of Borne." The great 'Canterbury
pilgrimage had as its sign the ampulla, or
flask suspended
round the neck, while that for Compostella was the escallop
2
shell.
1
"Aprestthatapalmerwaa,
A palme in his hand he had." TUSPAL.
5 Theold Spanish writers affirm that while the body of St. James
was being miraculously conveyed in a boat, without either oars or sails,
from Joppa to Galicia, it passed a little village on the coast on the day
that a had taken
marriage there.
place The bridegroom and his friends
were riding on the sands, when the horse o the former became un-
into the sea. The miraculous
manageable and plunged with its rider
In the description of a pilgrim in "Piers, Ploughman's

Vision," we read that he had
" An hundred of ampulles : on his hat seten
Signes of Synay and shells of Galioe,

And many a cronche on his oloke, and keys of Borne,
And the verniele before, for men sholde fcnowe
And se bi his signes whom he sought hadde.
Then folk prayed first fro whence he came ?
hym
From Synay he and from our Lordes Sepulcre
seide, :
In Bethlem and in Babiloyne I have ben in bothe :
In Armonye and Alesaundre, in many other places

Ye may see by my signes, that sitten in my hat,
That I have walked fol wide in weet and in drye,
And sought good seintes for my soules helthe."
Another interesting reference to this custom of going on

" "
pilgrimage may be found in the Canterbury Tales of
Chaucer :
" And thries hadde sche ben to Jerusalem ;
Sche hadde passed many a strannge streem ;
At Borne sche hadde ben, and at Boloyne,

In Galice at Seynt Jame, and at Coloyne."
The pilgrimage Holy Land naturally took the highest

to the
rank.
u
Why Eome
"
was visited calls for no explanation.
too
At Boloyne a notable image of the Virgin was preserved,
while at Cologne were to be seen the bones, real or reputed,
of Gaspar, Melchior, and Balthazar, the Wise Men of the
East.
The city of Compostella became in the eighth century one
of the great centres of -attractive force to the pilgrims, from
a legend that the "body of St. James had been. discovered
there and in the ninth century the Galilaean fisherman' was
;
transformed into the -patron saint of Spain, and led her

chivalry, we are told, against the Moorish infidels. At the
ship stopped in course, and horse and man rose from the sea beside
its
it. The on board, who were in charge of the remains, apprised
disciples
him that he owed his rescue from death to the good offices of the saint ;
and on explaining the Christian religion to him he was baptized there

and then. The ship then resumed her voyage, and the knight galloped
back over the waves to his astonished party. On narrating to them all
that had happened, they too were converted to the
âith. When the
knight rose from tbe sea his dress and the trappings of his horse were
covered with the shells of the escallop, hence the shell was ever after-
ward recognised as the cognisance of St. James.
CROCOD1LEAN TEARS. 209
battle of Clavigo, A.D. 844, in which

sixty thousand Sfoors
were slain, St. James was said to have appeared on a white
horse, the housings charged with escallops, and led the
Christian host to victory. Thenceforth enthnsiasm for so
potent a champion of the faith rapidly grew, and, as in the
case of St. Thomas of Canterbury, national feeling and reli-
gious fervour combined to pay due honour to his shrine.
" The
poor with scrip, the rich with purse,
They took their chance for better for worse,
From many a foreign land;
With a scallop-shell in the hat for badge,
And a pilgrim staff in hand."
While the foregoing exbract from Southey introduces the

literal facts of the pilgrim's journey to the shrine of the
saint, the following passage from Raleigh deals rather with
the broader view of pilgrimage though we still find the
;
escallop selected as a notable symbol of the pilgrim's

equipment.
" jGiveme my scallop-shell of quiet,
My staff of faith to walk upon,
My scrip of joy, immortal diet,
My bottle of salvation,
My gown of glory, hope's time gage,
And thus I'll make my pilgrimage."
The crocodile has been accepted as a symbol of dissimu-

lation, from an old belief that this reptile sheds tears to
attract the of the passers by, in order that it may
sympathy
bring them within reach of its formidable jaws
and devour
them. Though the crocodile has occasionally been intro-
duced in art in this sense, the symbol has, on the whole, had
a literary rather than artistic application. Thus in Shake-
speare, 2 King Henry
VI. iii. 1, we find the lines :
" As the mournful crocodile
With sorrow snares relenting passengers."
While Quarles writes :
11
Oh what a crocodilian world is this,
Composed of treacheries and ensnaring wiles 1
She clothes destruction in a formal kiss,

And lodges death in her deceitful smiles :
She hngs the soul she hates and there does prove
;
The veriest tyrant, where she vows to love ;

And is a serpent most, when most she seems a dove."
5 *
Lelia, in "The Captain of Beaumont and Fletcher,

exclaims :
"No, I would sooner trust a crocodile

When he sheds tears, for he kills suddenly,
And ends our cares at once."
Water, though sometimes associated in a bad sense with

the idea of an overwhelming flood of evil and of swift
destruction, is ordinarily a symbol of cleansing and regenera-
"
tion or of refreshment. I will take you from among the
heathen, and gather you out of all countries, and will bring
you into your own land. Then will I sprinkle clean water
"
upon you, and ye shall be clean." As cold waters to a
good news from a far country." Biblical
thirsty soul, so is
examples could however be given in scores, and any one
with but little search will readily see excellent illustrations
of the symbolic use in both the good and evil sense.
In the Middle Ages, at the consecration of a church, evil
spirits were exorcised by the use of water, wine, salt, and
" "
ashes. These," to quote Durandus, be four things which
expel the Enemy. The first is the outpouring of tears, which
is denoted by the water the second is the exaltation of the
;
soul, which is denoted by the wine the third is natural dis-

;
cretion, which is the salt the fourth a profound humility,

;
which is signified by the ashes. Therefore not one of these

ingredients ought to be wanting, because the Church is
neither sanctified nor released from sins without the union
of these qualities.
"
Salt, in the Divine language, is often a symbol of wisdom :
Let your speech be savoured with salt." Christ too said

"
to His disciples, Have salt in yourselves, and have peace
one with another." And again, " Ye are the salt of the
earth but if the salt have lost its savour, wherewith shall
:
" "
it be salted ? In the second part of King Henry IV.,"
"
Shakespeare writes : Some smack of age in you, some relish
of the saltness of time."
One of the most constantly recurring symbols in the cata-
combs, mosaics, etc., of the primitive Church, was a repre-
sentation of a rock from which four rivers proceed. Some
little doubt arises as to its significance. Ambrose, Bede, and
other authorities tell us that these streams represent the
writings of the four evangelists, flowing forth to fertilize and
THE ROCK AND SHIP SYMBOLS. zn
enrich the world others see in them the four rivers of Eden,
;
while others again think them the four great councils of the
early Church.
The rock is primarily a symhol of Christ. " They drank
of that spiritual Rock
that followed them, and that Rock
was Christ." It often used in the Old Testament as a
is
symhol of stability and of the Divine protection, the place

of refuge in the day of trouble. "Unto Thee will I cry,
"
Lord, my rock." Thou art my rock and my fortress." In
God is my salvation and my glory : the rock of my strength t
and my refuge is in Our readers will readily recall

God."
the parable of the house that was established immovably
upon the rock, and there is perhaps no more popular com-
position in the whole Christian hymnody than that of Toplady
which commences, "Rock of ages, cleft for me." The rock
is,secondarily, a symbol of the Church, an idea naturally
flowing from the words of the Saviour: "Thou art Peter,
and upon this rock I will build My Church." It is, finally,
a general emblem of steadfastness. Thus in the frontis-
" Bikon
piece of the Basilike," we see amongst other forms
of symbolic meaning a raging sea having a rock rising from
the midst, with the words added, "immota triumphans."
The sky is black with rolling clouds, and on either side of
the rock we see dark faces amidst the storm blowing vehe-
mently against it. Beneath are the lines
" As the unmoved Bock
ontbrayes
The boistrous Winds and raging Waves :
So triumph I and shine more bright

In sad Affliction's Darksom night."
The
ship riding
in safety amidst the storms was very a
frequent and favourite image of the Church in the earlier

is generally in the form
days of Christianity. The mast
of a and is surmounted by the dove or the monogram.
cross,
St. Clement of Alexandria and other early writers dwell
frequently upon this symbol,
and Tertullian says that the
church, using the word in its more restricted sense as a place
of assembly for worship, must be oblong in form, and
that it thus better symbolises a ship.
expressly declares
The Church of Christ, as a ship, is often found on early
(as in
fig. 100), lamps,
and other objects, and is freely
gems
in 105), on the walls of the catacombs. In-
depicted (as fig.
stead of a masted vessel, it is often (see fig. 106) the ark of

1 as it would
Noah, a form of perhaps additional significance,
and deliverance to the
appear to promise fnture protection
JEPRICERIVS Oyi VIX1T

ANtfOS PL M. VI MfiNS VIII1 fr
V, -QVfiSCBT. IN PACE
FIG. 105.
Church by a reminder of the past mercy of God to His

in the midst of a world of abounding
faithful followers
FIG. 106.
wickedness. In many cases the ship is merely introduced

in a lower symbolic sense, as an emblem of maritime power,
1 "
Quemadmodum enim post aquas diluvii quibus iniquitas antiqua
purgata post baptismum (ut ita dixerim) mundi pacem caslestis ir
est,
praeco columba terras annnnciavit dimissa ex area et cum olea reversa
. . . eadem dispositione spiritalis efEeotus terrse, id est carrd nostr
emergent! de lavacro post vetera delicta columba Sancti Spiritus advolat
pacem Dei afferens emiesa de caelis nbi eoclesia est area figurata."
TEBTTJLUAN.
SYMBOLIC USE OF THE ANCHOR. 213
fig. 107, where we see the prow of an antique galley

as in
and the trident of Neptune. St. Jude is represented with
a ship, or sails, or an oar in his hand. St. Raymond in a
boat hoists his cloak for a sail.
FIG. 107.
The anchor, often, as in fig. 108, terminating in a cross,

ua
is
primarily the symbol of steadfastness and hope strong
:
consolation, which hope we have as an anchor of the sonl,

both sure and steadfast."
FIG. 108.
It is,secondarily, associated
with St. Clement as the instru-
ment of his martyrdom, he being bound to an anchor
and
FIG. 109.
ast in the sea. The antique form of anchor may be very

well seen in fig.
109.
In the legends of the saints we find St. Bertulph changing
water into wine St. Ghimmarus drawing it from a rock

; ;
SS. Rufina and Secundus, thrown into the sea, float miracu-
lously on the surface; while SS. Nazarius, Celsus, Aldegondes,
and Birinus walk in safety over the waves.
The beneficent sun, the source of light and heat, has natu-
"
rally been accepted as a symbol of the Sun of righteous-
ness/' the Dayspring from on high, to give light to them
that sit in darkness. The ancient Egyptians depicted the
providence of God as a radiant sun, with wide, outstretching
wings; while our English word Sunday remains as a reminder
of the sun-worship of our ancestors, 1
The sun and the moon are often introduced together in
representations of the crucifixion, as symbolic of the great
powers of nature adoring the Lord of the universe or ;
veiled and eclipsed in the darkness that was over all from
the sixth to the ninth hour, when the earth did quake
and the rocks were rent, and all nature shuddered at the
deed enacted. Though the face often represented in sun
and moon is sufficiently, though involuntarily, grotesque, it
bears record to the belief, current in the Middle Ages, that
each was the home of an archangel, who was in turn the
leader of thousands of the angelic host. Thus the sun was
the abode of Michael, and the moon of Gabriel. Mercury,
in like manner, was the abode of Raphael, Venus of Anael,
Mars of Samael, Jupiter of Zadkiel, and Saturn of Oassiel.
Our illustration, fig. 110, is taken from the " Dialogus Crea-
turarum," A.D. 1480.
The crescent moon was the symbol of Byzantium. When
1 "
Surely vain are all men by nature, who are ignorant of God, and
could not out of the good things that are seen know Him that is:
neither by considering the works did they acknowledge the work-master ;
but deemed either fire, or wind, or the swift air, or the circle of the stars,
or the violent water, or the lights of heaven, to be the gods which
govern the world. With whose beauty it they being delighted took
them to be gods ; let them know how much better the Lord of them is :
for the'first author of beauty hath created them. But if they were
astonished at their power and virtue, let them understand by them, how
much mightier He is that made them. For by the greatness and beauty
of the creatures proportionably the Maker of them is seen. But yet
for this they are the less to be blamed for they peradventure err, seek-
:
ing God, and desirous to find Him. For being conversant in His works,
tiiey gearch Him diligently, and believe their sight : because the things
M& beautiful that are seen."- Wisdom xiii. 1-7.
THE STARRV HOST OF HEAVEN. 215
Philip, the father of Alexander, was besieging the city in the

fourth century before the Christian era, the sudden
appear-
ance of the moon betrayed the details of the intended assault ;
and the citizens, grateful for their deliverance, erected a

statue to Diana, and took the crescent moon, her symbol, as
their device. When the Turks took the city in the" fifteenth
century, they found the -device still in use, and in turn
adopted it, and it remains to this day the symbol of the
city and of the Turkish sway.
The starry host of heaven is often introduced as an em-
blem of the universe and in times when men believed in
;
FIG. 110.
the stellar influences, the presence of the stars had a deeper

to them
meaning thaa now appears, as they would represent
a watching, guarding, and guiding Providence. The Virgin
Mary is often depicted with a number of stars around and
above her, and SS. Dominic, Humbert, Athanasia, Bruno, and
Swidbert have a star on head or breast. Richard I., on his
a star over a crescent in token of his
great seal, placed
victories over the Saracens, and as a symbol of the triumph
of Christianity over Muhammadanism.
The star is one of the less common symbols of "Christ. It
to the test in the Apocalypse, I am the
owes its
origin
root and offspring of David, and the bright and morning
2i6 SYMBOLISM W CHRISTIAN ART.
"
Star ;
wliicli in turn is a fulfilment of the prophecy of
"
Balaam, There shall come a Star out of Jacob, and a Sceptre
shall rise out of Israel."
The star is associated again with Christ at the Nativity
(see figs. 1 and 65),
and Epiphany the star of the Bast
of that event. 1
being always a feature in representations
A false Messiah, a century afterwards, in the reign of
Hadrian, called himself Bar-Cocheba, the Son of a Star,
and caused a star to be stamped upon the coinage that he
issued.
During mediaeval times we very frequently find repre-

sentations of the seasons, or of the months, or of the signs
of the zodiac. The introduction of the several employments
of the months often had mystical significance, showing too
that all labour is honourable, and teaching at the same time
that the God of grace is God also of nature.
These representations are especially common in the early
Norman doorways, though we have no examples in England
that will at all compare with some of the examples met with
on the continent. In the great west doorway of St. Mark's
at Venice, for instance, we get the signs of the zodiac carved
with great life and spirit; and then emblematic figures of the
months, an old man in fur coat and hood warming himself
before a blazing fire, a man with a sheep on his shoulders, a
mower amidst the long grass, a reaper in the harvest-field, and
many others ; and in the centre, hallowing all, a grand figure
of Christ seated in a firmament of stars. At Modena, Verona,
Lucca, Sens, Rheims, Amiens, Saint Denis, Chartres, other ex-
cellent illustrations may be found. We
also find these figures
on paving tiles, fonts, capitals, and stained glass. 2 Very good
Renaissance examples may be seen in twelve large circular
medallions of enamelled terra cotta, preserved in the South
Kensington Museum, and attributed to Luca della Robbia.
They are painted in blue, the subjects being representations
of the agricultural
operations symbolic of each month, and
in each case the appropriate zodiacal
sign is introduced.
In conclusion, we have to deal with some few geometrical
1 "
Frontal for tie day of ye Epiphanye of wliyte wyth starrys."
Inventory, Westminster Abbey, A.D. 1540.
2
The whole subject will be found very fully and excellently worked
rat in a paper in vol. xliv, of Archaologia.
USE OF GEOMETRICAL FOAMS. 217
forms and arrangements that have defied classification and

incorporation in any of the preceding chapters.
fig. Ill, the simple yet most effective symbol of the Trinity
in unity. It occurs
very rarely in the early Church, but
later it became commonly
employed, and is still in use. St.
Angilbert, contemporary with Charlemagne, had the abbey
of St. Riquier built in the form of a
triangle, and devoted
three hundred monks to its service,
expressly stating that
this was so done in honour of the adorable" On
Trinity.
the coins of Edward I., the monarch's head, full-faced,
isplaced within an equilateral triangle, in some cases the
apex being upwards, above the crown, and in others below
the beard. The idea of its use was no doubt symbolic, and
expressive of the king enjoying the Divine protection and
surrounded by Divine grace.
FIG. 111.
The octagon, as we have seen in our remarks upon num-

bers, was symbolic of regeneration, an old writer affirming
that as the whole creation was complete in seven periods of
time, the number next following may well be significative
of
the new creation. We give the theory for what it is worth,
and the reader will donbtless concur with us in deciding
that its value is not very great. However defective the
in actual practice was very
theory, the use of the octagon
marked. "We note that in the ancient examples given by
the Cambridge Camden Society, in a pamphlet drawn up
for church builders, the Norman fonts that are octagonal
while those of all other shapes amount
only number fifteen,
to forty-three. In the Early English period the
together
nineteen, while the others amount
are to
octagonal examples
but in the Decorated or fourteenth century period,
thirty ;
in
the fonts of octagonal form that are given are twenty-four
and there one of other form-, while in
number, is only any
2i8 SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN- ART.
the next period, the Perpendicular, the numbers are respec-

tively fifty-seven and two.
The pentalpha, pentacle, or p entangle, is a five-pointed
star. If we mark off on the circumference of a circle five
equal divisions, and join each point in succession, we shall

form a pentagon but if we join instead every other point, the
;
result will be a pentalpha. The crossing of the lines suggests

five A's, hence the name. It was formerly considered the
symbol of health, and within the five points we sometimes
find the five letters SALVS. It is sometimes termed the
pentacle of Solomon, and when it is delineated on the body
of a man, it is pretended that it points out the five places

wherein the Saviour was wounded, and that therefore all
evil spirits flee from it. It was held to be a magic talisman
against the powers of witchcraft, and in many ways a

1
sign of great power. The pentalpha may be seen in the
eastern window of the south aisle at Westminster Abbey.
It was at one time used by the Greek Christians in lieu of
the cross at the beginnings of inscriptions, and the Jews also
employed it. It is said to have had its origin in the secret
rites and doctrines of the
Pythagoreans. From its associa-
tion with witchcraft and
demonology it is also sometimes
called the Puga Dsemonoruno.
The simple equilateral triangle is sometimes superseded
by a symbol of like significance, composed of three equal and
interlacing circles. This came into use first in the thirteenth
century, and its appropriateness, no less than its greater
beauty, soon gave it firm hold. The three equal circles sym-
bolise the equality of the three Persons in the Trinity, the
binding together into one figure the essential unity, while

the circular form signifies a
never-beginning, never-ending
eternity.
The form known as the fylfot is frequently introduced on
the vestments of the Greek Church, and is found also some-
1 " " to have this Pentacle

It is always necessary,"
says an old author,
in readiness to bind with, in case the spirits should refuse to be obedient,
as they can have no power over the exorcist while
provided with and forti-
fied by the -Pentacle ; the virtue of the
holy names therein written pre-
siding with wonderful influence over the Spirits. It should be made in
the day and hour of Mercury upon parchment made of a kidskin, or on
?ure clean white paper, and the figures and letters wrote in pure gold,
md ought to be consecrated and sprinkled with holy water."
USE OF THE FYLFOT SYMBOL 219
what more sparingly in the West, both in ecclesiastical and

heraldic work. It was most commonly employed amongst the
Western peoples in the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries,
&nd many examples of it may be seen on monuments, brasses,
and so forth. Amongst the various mediaeval textile fabrics
we find one called stauracin, a material taking its name from
the Greek word for a cross, and so called from its being
figured over with the form of the cross, the design being
sometimes of the simplest character, and in other examples
of very elaborate enrichment of detail. This was also known
as gammadion. In the Greek alphabet the capital letter
Gamma consists of two lines at right angles to each other,
like an English letter L, and many of the mystical writers
of earlier
days have seen in this form a symbol of Christ as
the corner-stone. On this idea as a basis the mediaeval de-
signez-s combined these L-like forms into many more or loss
FIG. 112.
decorative arrangements. Four of them placed with their

four angles towards each other create the form of the Greek
cross ;
at other times they were so arranged as to form the
letter H ; or, placed with their angles outwards, a square is
produced.
By far the most ancient and most common form, fashioned
out of the repetition of the Gamma, is that known as the
fylfot. This may be found even in the catacombs, as in the
examples figs. 112 and 113 and from its resemblance to
;
two rough S's or Z's crossing each other S and Z in old

work being often interchangeable it has been conjectured
that it was probably the cross represented as signum, the
sign, i.0., of faith in the Crucified.

In the use of the fylfot the early Christians merely
adopted and diverted to their own purpose a symbol centuries
older than the Christian era, a symbol of early Aryan origin,
found abundantly in Indian and Chinese art, and spreading w
westward, long before the dawn of Christianity, to Greece

and Asia. The subject is beset with difficulties, and many
theories have been propounded in attempted elucidation, one
being that it represents a revolving wheel, and symbolises the

for the light-
great sun god while another is that it stands
;
ning wielded by the omnipotent Deity, whether this Deity be

the Manu, Buddha, or Brahma of the East, or the Thor or
Zeus of the West. The fylfot is abundantly found on the
terra-cotta objects dug up by Dr. Schliemann at Troy, and
conjectured to date from 1000 to 1500 B.C. and the Greek ;
fret or key pattern is frequently seen in combination with

the fylfot, or is itself a fuller and more decorative develop-
ment of the form. The subject is one of immense interest,
but its consideration lies entirely beyond the limits we have
DOMIT1A. IVL1ANETI HUE I
<2YE Btxrr. ANNlf-IB. MElV. X*
XEX. KOTlf .DEBVNTA Efr IDV$
MAZAf
FIG. 113.
imposed upon our work. Any one caring to pursue the sub-
ject at greater length will find an excellent paper upon it
in Archceokgia, vol. xlviii., and it has also been dealt with by
Dr. Schliemann, Max Miiller, Fergusson, Ludwig Miiller,
Waring, and many other writers of authority and learning.
The letter T
is sometimes used
symbolically. It is some-
times called the T of Pythagoras, because that philosopher
called it the emblem of human life. The foot of the letter
represents infancy, but a time comes to all as their life goes
on when two paths open out before them, one leading to
good, the other toevil. A
very good example of this sym-
bolic use be seen in the frame of a mirror of Italian
may
workmanship of the sixteenth century in the magnificent
museum at South Kensington. At the branching of the T
are placed two figures, one the
recording angel, the other a
human skeleton. An acanthus scroll is interwoven through-
THE 7RIQUETRA IN CELTIC ART.
out, and within this are various animals, on the one side
those symbolic of the virtues, and on the other those re-
presenting the vices of human nature. Each animal is
accompanied by a golden letter, the one series spelling out
the -word BONUM, the other MALTJM.
The triquetra, made by the interlacing of three portions of
circles, is used in Christian art as a symbol of the Trinity.
It may be frequently met with on Celtic crosses. On the
cross at Margam in Glamorganshire it is placed above the
figures of the saints that stand on either side of the shaft,
and at Llanfrynach it occurs in association with the figure
of a dove. On a cross at Calf of Man the triquetra appears
on the dress of the crucified Saviour, and on the breasts of
the evangelists in a sixth, century manuscript in the library
of Trinity College, Dublin. Numerous examples may be
found figured in Stuart's " Sculptured Stones of Scotland,"
in Westwood's " Lapidarium Wallise," and in Cumming's
11
Runic E/emains of the Isle of Man."
In conclusion, we venture to express the hope that these
pages, the writing of which has been so enjoyable a task to
ourselves, may not prove altogether destitute of interest and
profit to others. The study is one of the greatest value, and
the fault is that of the exponent and not of the subject if we
have failed to transfer some idea of this from our own con-
victions to the mind of the reader.
Therefore " now pray I," in the quainfc and honest language
of Chaucer, " to hem that harkene thys tretyse or rede, that
yf ther be onything that liketh him, that thereof they thank
HIM of whom proceedeth al wit and goodnes, and yf ther
be onything that displease hem, I pray hem also that they
arrete it to the defaulte of myn unkonnyng and not to my
will, that would have seyde better yf I had knowing,"
APPENDIX.
few matters tliat are desirable to dwell on, and that yet
form too long a break in the general flow of the subject, and are
therefore somewhat out of place in the body of the test or in
the limited space available for footnotes, may advantageously
find a resting place in an appendix.
A.
The Magi in art and literature are ordinarily three. G-aspar
an old man with a long gray beard and venerable aspect;
Melchior, a man of the prime of life, and always given a short
beard and the third, Balthazar, a young, beardless man, often
;
depicted as a negro, and having the thick lips and curly hair of
that race. The scene of the ^Nativity is in the East always shown
as a grotto or cave, while in the West it is a poor stable. The
following extracts from old carols indicate this very clearly, art
and popular belief reacting always upon each other.
" In
Bethlehem, in Jewry,
This "blessed Babe -was born,
And laid within a manger,
Upon this blessed morn j
The which His mother, Mary,

Did nothing take in scorn."
"And when they came to Bethlehem,

Where our dear Saviour lay,
They found Him in a manger,
Where oxen feed on hay ;
His rnobher Mary kneeling down,
Unto the Lord did pray." .
"
Onward then the Angels sped, the shepherds onward went,
God was in His manger bed, in worship low th^y bent.
Iu the morning, see ye mind, my masters one. and all,
At the Altar Him to find who lay within tho stall."
223
"
Then were they constrained in a stable tojie,
Where horses and asses they u*ed for to tie :
Their lodgings so simple they took it no scorn,

But against the next morning our Saviour was "born."
"
Good Christian men, rejoice
With heart and soul and Toice ;
Give ye heed to whafc we say ;
News! News!
Jesns Christ is born to-day :
Ox and ass before Him bow,

And He is in the manger now.
"
Christ is born to-day !
B.
St. Christopher was of heathen birth and parentage, "and the
old chronicles tell us that he was twelve cubits high, a right
"
grete stature indeed. He was ambitious to dedicate his strength
to the service of the mightiest monarch on earth, and after
considerable quest he arrived at the court of a sovereign who
seemed to meet the requirement, and he therefore entered his
service,and was gladly accepted.
One day however a strolling minstrel arrived at the court and
sang a lay in which the name of Satan was referred to, and
the king, being a good Christian, crossed himself and muttered
something at each repetition of the name. The puzzled and
observant heathen asked the monarch for an explanation; but
the prince evaded the question for some time, and finally con-
fessed that it was to protect himself from the power of the evil
"
spirit. Christopher exclaimed Then am I deceived in hope,
:
for I had thought that I had found the greatest lord in the
world but this devil of whom you speak and whom you fear
;
is mightier than yourself. I go then to seek him and to become

his vassal."
Having left his first master, as he wandered over a great and
savage wilderness he encountered one who demanded of him
the cause of his travels, and, being told the object, the stranger
assured him that he need seek no further, as the object of his
quest stood before him and he at once welcomed Christopher
;
into his service. One day, as they were riding along together,
Satan espied a road-side cross some little distance ahead, and
at once turned oat of the track into the thorny wilderness,
and only returned to the high road when well past the cross.
Christopher was much puzzled, and asked his lord why this
curious wooden object had so aff ected him. The devil, like his
former master, would have evaded the question, but at
lengjth
admitted that Christ, an old enemy of his, had vanquished him
by its means, and that whenever he saw a cross he fled. Then
LEGEND OF ST. CHRISTOPHER. 225
answered Christopher, " This Christ then is a mightier than

thyself I go to seek Him as my king."
;
"
After a Jengthened search, whan he had demanded where
he shold fynd Crist, atte last he came to a grete desert to an
hermyte that dwelled there, and this hermyte preched to hym
of Jhesu Crist, and enformed hym in the fayth dylygently, and
sayd to hym, Thys kyng whom thou "desirest to serve requyres

e
the seruyse that thou must faste oft/ But Christopher replied,
"
fasting not being at all to his taste, Requyre of me somme
other thynge, and I shall doo it, for that whiche thou askest I
"
cannot." Whereupon the hermit replied, Thenne must thou
wake and make many prayers." Then answered Christopher,
"I wot not what this is; I can doo no suche thynge." The
indulgent friar, unwilling to lose the services of one so willing,
yet so very unconventional, taking a glance .at the brawny limbs
of the giant, thought of yet another acceptable form of service,
"
and replied, Know you a certain river in whych manye perish?"
On the disciple's affirmative reply, the hermit bad him, "by cause
he was noble and hye of stature and strong in the membris,"
to dwell by the foaming torrent and carry all comers across.
This being a kind of service very
much more to Christopher's
taste, he willingly accepted his instructions, and having built
himself a hut on the bank, bore over all who came that way.
One night as he was sleeping he heard the cry of a little
child, "Come out, good sir, and bear me over the stream"; so
he at once ran out, but in the darkness saw no one, and concluded
that it was a dream. A
second time the same thing happened ;
but as he decided that the sounds were a device of his late

master to annoy and frighten him, he composed himself to sleep
again. Scarcely had he closed his eyes than he heard himself
again called; so hurrying again to the water's edge he found a
little child "whiche prayed hym goodly to here him over the
water." So Christopher lifted him on to his shoulder, and bore
him into the stream. As he plunged into the foaming current
the water rose ever higher and higher, and the child "heavyer
and heavyer," began to fear for" his life. On
until Christopher
at last reaching the opposite bank, he exclaimed, CMlde, thou
hast put me in grete peryl thou wayest alle most as I had had
;
alle the world upon me, I myght bere no greater burden." The
"
child answered, Chrystofre, merueyle thee nothynge, for tbou
hast born Hym that created and made alle the world upon thy
shoulders. I am Jhu Cryste, the king whom thou servuest in
1
that thou knowe that I saye to thee
thys werke, and bycause
i Hence called
Christopher, the Christ-bearer, in the same iva^ that
Simeon is sometimes called Theodokos, the receiver of God (Lute ii. 28),
and Ignatius, Theophoros, borne o God, from a tradition that he was one
truth, sette thy staf in the earthe by thy hous, and thou shalt
see to morne that it shalle bear
flpwres
and frnyte, and anon he
vanysshed from his eyen." Christopher obeyed the command,
and on the morrow found that the promised miracle had been
fulfilled
Full of joy at the Divine recognition, he hastened to the city
of Lycia to serve his new Master more fully j but on arrival
there he was met by the practical difficulty of being wholly
unable to speak the language of the people, so he fell on his
knees in the market and besought the gift of tongues, a petition
that was immediately answered. He then hurried to the place
where the martyrs for Christ were imprisoned, and brought
them much comfork The pagan judge, greatly incensed at this,
"
struck him in the face, whereupon Christopher said, If I were
not Chrysten I shold anon auenge me of myn injurye." Plung-
ing his staff anew into the earth, he prayed that the miracle
might be repeated, and on the rod bursting into blossom eight
thousand men of the city immediately became Christians.
The king of that country, greatly alarmed at this startling
event, sent a party of knights to arrest this disturber of the
ancient faith; but when they found him on his knees praying to
his God, and realized moreover what kind of reception so very
doughty a champion of the faith might have in store for them,

they thought discretion preferable to valour, and parleyed with
him as to their instructions from the king. Christopher, learn-
ing their business, "commanded them that they shold bynde
his hondes behynde his backe, and lede hym so bounden to theyr
kyng." The king when he beheld him fainted with fear, but
seems to have got over his apprehension when he saw that he
was tightly bound. Christopher replied, on being asked who he
was, that originally his name was Beprobus, but that he had been
baptized into the Christian faith, and was now named Chris-
topher. The king told him that he was a great fool for bearing
"
the name of a crucified malefactor, and added Yf thou wilt
:
now doo sacrefyze to the goddes I shall geue to thee grete geftes
and grete honours, but yf not I shall destroye thee by grete paynes-
and torments. But for alle thys he wold in no wyse do sacrefyse,
wherefoe he was sent into pryson,"
The king commanded Christopher to be thrashed with red hot
rods and a ring of glowing iron to be placed upon his head. He-
was bound too on an iron chair under which a fierce fire of pitch
and bitumen was kindled, so that his seat presently melted " like
"
waxe in the intensity of the heat, the only result being that
when the chains by which he was bound melted from him the
saint "yssued out wythout ony Imrte."
of the children whom Christ took in His arms and blessed (Mark x. 16)*
Christopher -was of course not the original and pagan name of the saint.
THE CATACOMBS OF ROME. 227
The monarch, full of rage and fury, theu gave orders that he
should be fastened to a tree and shot by the royal bodyguard of
archers but all the arrows missed their aim, though one of them,
;
on glancing from the tree, smote the king and blinded him.
St. Christopher on seeing this exclaimed, with the Christian
that he had exhibited all through the proceedings, "I
spirit
snal die thys mornynge, tempre a little clay withe my bloude
and anoynt thy wounde, and strayhtwaye thou shalt be healed."
Though the flame and the skill of his marksmen had alike failed.
the king commanded that the saint should be beheaded; and the
saint, having made "hys oryson," died at the hands of the execu-
tioner. The king, impressed with the fulfilment of the first part
of the saint's prophecy, was eager to put the rest to the proof;
and on following the instructions given, his sight was immediately
restored. This softened his heart, so that he too became a
convert to the faith, and with all the fervour of a new convert
published a decree that whosoever should fail to worship the
God of Saint Christopher should be put to death.
C.
Noattempt at a description of the various symbols introduced

in art could be at all complete without reference to that great
storehouse of early examples, the catacombs of Rome, excavations
which it is conjectured contain some seven million graves, and
having a combined length altogether of some five hundred miles.

These burial places were in use for some three centuries, the
earliest dated inscription being A.D. 7*2, the latest A.D. 410. They
were also places of refuge during the fierceness of persecution,
and later on were used as places of worship when a deepening
superstition led to adoration of the relics of the first martyrs of
the faith. The passages are some seven or eight feet high and
about three feet wide, and their sides are lined with the slabs
that cover the resting places of the members of the early Church,
After their abandonment in the year 410, bodies were so often
abstracted from them as relics that Pope Paul I. in 757 removed
many a church in Rome, and Pope Honorius III, about the
to.
year 1220, transferred many others. The catacombs after this

date appear to have been absolutely forgotten, until a vine-
dresser in 1478 accidentally dug into one of these subterranean
The investigations of Padre March! and the two De Rossi, his

pupils and companions, are full of interest, and their books
on
the subject may well be consulted: "I Monumenti delle arti
Christiane primitive nella Metropoli del Christianesuno," the
" "
Inscriptions Christianse," and the Roma Sotteranea." The
soil is a tufa that is readily worked, and yet of sufficient rocky
solidity to bear excavation. It was at first thought when they

were re-discovered that the catacombs had been the common
burial of both heathens and Christians, as many pagan
places
inscriptions were discovered ; but in by^
far the greater number
of cases these slabs were found either sideways, upside down, or
with their heathen inscriptions on the inner face, showing that
the Christians often used old slabs without troubling to remove
a former inscription. At the same time there are several
examples that cannot be thus explained away. The letters D'M :
or D'M'S* occur some forty times amongst the fifteen or twenty

thousand inscriptions that have been recorded. On heathen
monuments these letters occur abundantly, and they then signify
Dis manibus or Dis manibus sacrum, and it has been very reason-
ably surmised that the Christians, finding useful slabs thus
marked, were glad to employ them, and in doing so gave an
altered significance to these letters, as for instance Deo Maximo
or Deo Maximo Salvatori.
Nothing could often be ruder or less artistic than the Christian

symbols on the early monuments but they are most valuable
;
as expressing contemporary beliefs, and what later forms gain

in grace they may lose in sincerity.
The most favourite subject on these slabs after the various
symbols or inscriptions is the raising of Lazarus, in itself a sym-
bol of faith in Jesus the resurrection of the dead. Other
an_d
very common Bible subjects are the three children in the fiery
furnace, Daniel in the den of lions, and the story of Jonah but ;
by far the commonest symbol is that of Christ as the Good

Shepherd.
D.
The Christian Museum of the Lateran. One of the most

interesting of the unrivalled collections of art treasures of the
Eternal City. The objects are chiefly casts from the reliefs on
ancient sarcophagi, paintings copied from the originals in the
catacombs, and inscriptions. In the catacombs the originals have
to be sought in far-reaching subterranean galleries, and examined
as well as may be by the light of flickering lamps bufc in this
;
museum the choicest examples are collected together, and,

thanks to the admirable descriptive catalogue, made much more
instructive and intelligible. Nevertheless no collection of casts,
however instructive, well arranged, or excellently lighted, can for
a moment compare in interest with the
study of the original
slabs still in the position where these memorials of the saints
of God were
placed centuries ago by the loving hands of the
brethren of the early Church.
INDEX.
"
Order gave each thing view." " act
King Henry VIII.," i., ac. 1.
Abbreviations, use of, 47. Axe, 146.

Action, symbolism of, 10.
Ages, seven, of man, 14. Bag of money, 145.
Agnel d'or, 168. Banner of resurrection, 152.
Alexander, Dr., passages from, 40, Battle of Clavigo, 209.
105. Bayeux tapestry, 34.
Alhambra, inscriptions in, 9. Bear, 178.
Allegorical personifications, 67. Beaumont and Fletcher, extract
Allegory, its nature, 2. from, 210.
Alpha and Omega, 49. Bee, 194.
Amaranth, 199. Bell, Durandus thereon, 5.
**
Amethyst, 164, 165. Biblia Pauperum,'* extract from,
Ampulla, 207. 125.
" Biblia
Anachronisms, apparent, 136. Sacra," illustration from,
Anchor, 3, 203, 213. 63.
Ancient books of colour use, 19. " Bibliotheea
Biblia," extractfrozn,
Ancient colour-names, 23. 188.
Angels, 105, 132, 133, 178. Bishop Clifford, pontifical of, 17, 2-2.
Animals at feet of effigies, 176. Bishop Grandisson, instructions of,
Anthony cross, 76. 25.
Anvil, 146. Black, 28.
Ape, 181. Blessing, symbolic, 9.
Apocryphal authorities, 127. Blue, 26.
Apostles, symbols of, 129, 130. Book as symbol, 46, 144.
Archangels, 107. "Book of Beasts," 171.
Arch of Titus, 12. BossewelTs " Armorie of Honour,'*
Ark, 2, 124, 200, 212. 189.
Arm of the Lord, 33. Box of ointment, 145.
14
Armorie of Birds," 189. Brahma, priests of, 16 ;
throne of,
Art traditions, 138. 14.
Ascent of Elijah, 125. Breastplate of Aaron, 163.
Ash-colour, symbolic use, 27. Broken column, 99.
Ashes, 100, 210. Budding rod of Aaron, 155.
Ass, at Nativity, 127, 177, 224. Buddhist saints, nimbed, 52.
Assyrian animal forms, 133. Burial of war hatchet, 10.
Attributes of Deity, 11. Butterfly, 104.
Aureole, 68. Byzantium, crescent moon of, 214.
ssn
230 INDEX,
Caldron, 147. Crocodile, 209.

'
Calvin, extract from, 97. Cross, 44, 73, 167, 211, 218,
Cambridge Camden Society, 217. Crown, 36, 123, 149, 167 ; of thorns,
Carols, 223. 88,93.
Carved crosses, symbols on, 3. Crozier, 156, 205.
Catacombs of Borne, 22, 42, 50, Cruciferous nimbus, 63.
143, 167, 178, 195, 227. Crucifix, 44, 86.
Caxton, extract from, 202, Cyprian, passage from, 16.
Celtic crosses, 7, 87, 221.
Chalcedon, Council of, 13. Dance of Death, 96.
Chaliee, 39, 91. Dante, extracts from, 25, 110, 188.
Champions, seven, of Christendom, Deacons of early Church, 12.
13. Deaf adder, 117.
Charlemagne with nimbus, 54. Death, representations of, 95,
Charles I., coronation of, 17. Dedication of church to cross, 80.
Charters prefaced with cross, 81. Dedicatory cross, 81.
Chaucer, passages from, 14, 25, 26, Deeds prefaced with cross, 81.
208, 221. Definition of symbol, 1.
Cherubs as aureole, 72. Deity, attributes of, 11.
Chinese mourning observances, 18. Destruction of old work, 88, 93 ;
of
Chinese symbolic colours, 23. MSS., 135.
Chrisma, 48, 50. Deviation of chancel, 78.
Christian and Jewish Churches, Devil, representation of, 107.
123. "
Dialogue Creaturarum," illustra-
Christian Museum
of Lateran, 228. tion from, 215.
Christmas Eve, custom on, 29. Diamond, 164.
"
Christus Consummator," 6. Diptych, ivory, inscription on, 81.
t:
Chrysosfcom, extract from, 5. Display of Heraldry," 7.
"
Churches of Asia, 12. Dissertatio de Colore Sacro," 19.
Church inventories, 18. Divergence of colour use, 19.
Church svmbolized, 121. Divine oval, 70.
Claude Vil'ette, extract from, 27. "Divinity of our Lord," extract
Clavigo, battle of, 209, from, 40, 105.
" Clavis
Calendaria," 201. Doctors of the Church, 31.
Clement of Alexandria, 3, 205. Dog, 179.
Cloak, 143. Dolphin, 206.
Cock, 191. Dove, 3, 31, 32, 36, 44, 50, 60, 121,
Colour, in good sense or had, 20. 184, 195, 203, 211.
Colour, symbolism of, 16. Dragon, 111, 156.
*
Complaint of a Dying Lover," Dream of Pharaoh, 12,

extract from, 26. Durandus, writings of, 5, 25, 60,
Consecration crosses, 82. 82, 210.
Constantinople, Council of, 13. Durham rites, extract from, 189.
Corn, 9. *
Dust and ashes, 100.
Corner stone, 219.
Coronation swords, 152. Eagle, 132, 190.
Councils of early Church, 13. Earl of Surrey, extracts from. 26.
" Court of
Love," extract from, 26. Egyptian examples, 36, 102, 103,
Cowley, extract from, 99. 133.
Cowper, extract from, 94. Eight, 14.
"Eikon Basilike," 93, 196. 211.
INDEX, 23 1
Elephant, 178. Gray r extracts from, 98, 99.

"Enchologion" of Goar, 13. Gray, symbolic use of, 27.
Enrichment of nimbus, 62. Greek cross, 77.
Ephesus, Council of, 13. Greek form of benediction, 34.
Episcopal rings, 163. Green as alternative with black,
Equilateral triangle, 60, 217. 26.
Ermine, 194. Green as symbolic colour, 24.
Escallop shell, 206. Gregory, St., extract from, 103,
"
Essay on Criticism," extract Gridiron, 140.
from, 20. Ground-plan a cross, 78.
Eternity, symbol of, 49. Guillim, extracts from, 7, 19, 22,
Evangelists, 11, 132, 28, 113, 189.
Exeter Cathedral inventory, 28. Gurgoyles, 108.
Exorcism, 210.
Eye of the Lord, 3& Hand of the Lord, 33, 57.
.
e
Hawthorn of Glastonbury, 155.
Feast of tabernacles, 6. Hebrew name of Jehovah, 60.
Feast of the lance and nails, 90, Hell, 15, 110.
Ferne. extract from, 28. Hen and chickens, 193.
Field of Cloth of Gol i, 21. Heraldry, cross in, 80.
Fish, 39, 203. Herbert, extract from, 98.
Flabellum, 159. Herrick, extract from, 94.
Flying serpent, 115. Hindu Trinity, 30.
Forced symbolism, 4. Hippeau, extract from, 172.
Forces against Christianity, 147. " of the
'*
History Liturgical Colours,
Forty, symbolic value, 15. 23.
Four, symbolic number, 11. Holy days of Jewish Church, 12.

"
Fox, 181, 183. Holy War," 2.
Frankincense, 162. Horse, 178.
Frescoes, early examples, 3.
Fresco of Last Sapper, 2. Iconoclasts, 135, 136.

Company, arms
Fruiterers' of, 114. I-H-S form of monogram, 51.
Fuga Dssmonorum, 218. Illuminant power of nimbus, 66.
Funeral palls, 9?. Illuminated books, 3 3 185,
Fylfot, 218. Incarnation of Christ, 41.
Innocent III. on colour symbolism,
G-ammadion, 219. 19.
Gay, extract from, 16. Interlaced circles, 218.

Gems, works on, 161. Invention of the cross, 84.
Geometrical forms, 210. Inventory* St. Pauls, 14o. 201;
Ghiberti, gates, 38. Westminster Abbey, 21, 24, 52,
Globe, 156, 191. 188, 191, 201, 216.
Gnostic influence, 33, 118.
" " Jehovah representation
Goar, Enchologion of, 19. of, 31, 32.
Goat, 181. Jeremy Taylor, extract from, 97

God's acre at Basel, 98, 104. Jewish and Christian Churches,
Golden candlestick of temple, 12. 123.
Golden robes, 21. Jonah, as a type, 20o.
Gold in heraldry, 21; symbolic Joseph, type of Christ, 125,
use, 162 Joys, seven, of Virgin, 13.
Good Shepherd, 3, 4, 43, 122, 228. Jubilee, year of, 12,
INDEX.
Keys of St. Peter, 145, 178, 207. Messenger of God, 107.

Knights Hospitallers, cross of, 77. Michael, St., and the dragon, 112.
Krausen on colour symbolism, 19. Millstone, 147.
Krishna, 118. Milton, extracts from, 28, 107, 111,
199.
Labarum, 48, 51. Ministry of angels, 105.
Labourers in vineyard, parable of, Mitre, 151.
5. Monogram, 39, 47, 48, 168, 195,
Lamb, 4, 39, 122, 167, 204. 211.
Lamp, 148, 185. Moon, 214.

Lance, 147. Moore, extract from, 115.
Language, symbolism of, 9. Mors janua vitae, 100.
Last Judgment, 39. Mosaics, 3, 7, 42, 48, 54, 59, 124,
Latin cross, 77. 210,
Latin form of benediction, 34. Moses, nimbus of, 56.
Laurel wreath, 92, 150. Mouton d'or, 170.
" Much Ado about
'La Vraye et Parfaite Science des Nothing," 20.
Armoires," 19. Museum of Lateran, 155, 228.
"
Lays of Ancient Borne," 15. Myrrh, 162.
Leaven, as symbol, 4, 5. Mystical almond, 70.
Le Deuil blanc, 18. "
Mystical Mirrour." extract from,
Lenten use of -white, 17. 191.
"
Les Couleurs Liturgiques," 17,
20, 22, 25, 27, 106. Name inscribed in nimbus, 62.
Levitical colours, 18. Nativity, scene of, 127, 223.
41
Liber Clericorum," 26. Nicsea, Council of, 13.
11
Liber Sacerdotalis," 26. Nimbus, 52, 167.
Lily, 198. Nine, symbolic number, 15.
Lion, 4, 132, 133, 153, 171, 204. Number of perfection, 11.
'Liturgical Colours," Legg's, 23. Number, symbolism of, 10.
'Livre des Creatures," 171.
Lorraine, cross of, 77. Oberammergau passion play, 43.
Lost sheep, parable of, 5. Octagon, 217.
Loving cup, 10. Old Testament references, hand of
Luther, memorial ring, 98. God, 33.
Lydgate, extracts from, 150, 167. Olive branch, 188, 200.
One side of truth only often given,
Magi, or Wise Men, 10, 126, 223.
Magpie, 192. Onyx, 164, 165.
Malais, "Les Couleurs Litur- Ophite sect, 117.
giques," 17, 20, 22, 25, 27, 106, Orb or globe, 156.
Mandola, 70. Orders of angels, 106.
Man of sorrows, 40. Orpheus, 3, 42.
Mary, Queen of Scois, portraits of, "Othello," 25.
18. Owl, 192.
Maundeville, writings of, 83, 88. Ox, 127, 132, 133, 144, 177, 223,
Mecca, sacred stone of, 14. 224.
Medieval spelling, 24.
Memorial rings, 98. Palm branch, 3,159,195.
" Merchant of
Venice," 25. Palmer, 207.
Merlin and the White King, 17. Papal crown, 150.
INDEX.
Parabolic teaching of our Lori, 5. Begeneration, number of, It.

Parnell, extract from, 90. Bing, 160.
Passion cross, 77. Bock, 124, 147, 21*, 211.
Passion flower, 15, 198 Bod or staff, 154.
Passion symbols. 39, 88. Boll, 46.
Passover symbolism, 6. Bose, 199.
Pastoral staff, 155. Ruby, 163.
Patriarchs, symbols of, 129. Bussian sacred pictures 6.
Pavement, symbol on, 3, 78.
Peacock, 57, 160, 191. Sacraments of Romish Churcb, 12*
Pearl of great price, 5. Sacred dramas, 44.
Pelican, 4, 39, 188. Sacred stone of Mecca, 14.
Penitential psalms, seven, 12. Sacred writing of Egypt, 0.
Pentaugle or pentalpha, 218. Samson, type of Christ, 126.
Peterborough Cathedral, inventory, Salt, 10, 210.

22. Sapphire, 164.
Phoenix, 51, 57, 190. Sarcophagi in catacombs, 3.
Picture worship, 135. Satan with nimbus, 54.
" Piers
Ploughman's.Vision," 208. Scapegoat, 6.
Pig, 180. Scarlet, 24.
41
Pilgrim's Progress," 2. Scene of Nativity, 127, 223.
Pilgrims' signs, 207. Sceptre, 152.
Pincers, 142. Serpent, 111, 113, 115, 177.
Pipe of peace, 10. Serpent worship, 118.
Plant symbols, 202. Sevenfold gifts of Spirit, 12, 187.
Political colours, 26, 27. Heven, symbolic number, 11,
Pontifical of Bishop Clifford, 17, Shakespeare, extracts from, 15/20,
22, 25. 25, 94, 111, 117, 188, 209.
Pope, extracts from, 20, 198. Sheep, 121, 168.
Posy rings. 161. Shelley, extract from, 28.
Poverty, with nimbus, 57. Ship, 203, 204, 211.
Prayer for blessing ring, 161. Sibyls, 127.
Precious stones, 163. Signet ring, 160.
" Sir Thomas More, extract from,
Princely Pelican," 189.
Prodigal son, 5. 145.
Proverbs, a picture language, 9. Six, 11.
Purple, 27. Skelton, Armorie of Birds," 189.
Pythagoras on the number three, Skull, 97.

10. Song of Solomon, imagery of, 6.
Sorrows, seven, of Virgin, 13.

Quarles, extract from, 209. Soul of man, 101.
Southey, extract from, 209.
Raleigh, extract from, 209. Spenser, extract from, 110.
v
''BationalePivinorumOfficioram Square nimbus, 53.
5. Stag, 176.
Eaven, 192. Stained glass, symb lism in, 3.
Bed, 21. Star, 215.

Bed-hot ploughshare, 147. Stauracin, 219.
Bed-letter day, 23. Stigmata, 91.
Beformation zeal, 52, 88, 93, 135, Stork, 194.
156. Sudarium, 142.
234 2NDEX.
Sun, 44, 214. Vision of BzeMel, 183; of St.
Sun-worsMp, 53, 214. Augustin, 31.

Sword, 146, 149, 152.
Wand or staff, 154.
Talmud, 12. Water, 210, 214.
Tau cross, 74. Wedding the Adriatic, 161.
Tertullian, 3, 205, 212. Westminster Abbey, inventories of,
Theophilus on Trinity, 30. 21, 24, 52, 188, 191, 201, 216.
Three, 10. Westcott, "Christus Consum-
Tiara, 150. mator," 6.
Time, 94. Wheat and Tares, 202.

Titus, Arch of, 12. Wheel, 141.
Tobit, extract from, 179. White, 16, 17.
Torch of life, 104,143. Wickham Legg on liturgical col-
Tree of Jesse, 201. ours, 23.
Tree of life, 83, 114. Wine, 9, 210, 214.
Trinity the, in Italian art, 31. Winged serpent, 115, 116.
Trinity, representations of, 30. Wisdom, book of, 214.
Triple cross, 78. Wise Men or Magi, 10, 208.
Triquetra, 221. Wise men of Greece, 14.
"True blue," a party colour, 2G. Wolf, 181.
Tundal,207, Wonders, seven, of ancient world,
" Twelfth
Night," esfcract from, 20. 13.
Twelve, 14. Wood of cross, 83.
Type, its nature, 2. Wordsworth, extract from, 25.
Tyrian purple, 27. Wordsworth, Bishop, quoted, 134.
Works on gems, 161.
Umbrella, 159, Wreath, 50, 150.
Unicorn, 178. Wyckliffe on evangelistic symbols,
Unjust judge, parable of, 5. 134.
Unknown God, altar to, 42.
Urn, 99, Xmas for Christmas, 50.
Value of pictorial teaching, 2. Y, letter, as symbol, 220.

Veiling truth by symtol, 2. Year of jubilee, 12.
Venerable Bede, extract from, 49. Year 1000, 39.
Vernicle, 207. Yellow, 20.
Vesica pisois, 70. Yew, 201.
Vestal Virgins, 16. Young, extract from, 25.
Vine, 39, 194.
Violet, 27. Zeus, priests of, 16.
Virgeorrod, 153. Zodiac, sign of, 21(5.
Butler & Tanner, The Selwood Printing Works, Froine, and London.

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a:

3YMJBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.

1. MONUMENTAL BRASSES. By the Rev. HHRBEHT

2. THE HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND PRACTICE

EDWARD HULSIE, P.L.S., F.S.A. With numerous Illustra-

3. THE HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND PRACTICE

[Other Volume* to follow.]

iprtduttttt ttt wrotJttt

F. EDWARD HULMB, F.L.S., F.S.A.

Pamfl/nr TFild n.ointrs," "Sit0ge*/,ioii8 lu floral Design," Wnyaifa Sfcfltclws/

rtiid," *'Prwwjij)lfl80/OniaflwiUal</lvt," etc,, etc.

CHAPTER VII 121

CHAPTER VIII 140

CHAPTER IX. . 107

HISTORY, PRINCIPLES, AND PRACTICE

SYMBOLISM IN CHRISTIAN ART.

A svMUuij is n form that in itself may be trivial, barbarous,

present pages to do little more than deal with the subject in

Though the terms symbol, allegory, and type appear to be

of meaning and application. Symbolism employs real

while allegory is more especially literary, and the picturesque

"Holy War" affords us very excellent examples of its scope.

the waters of the deluge was a type of the Church of God.

clergy wisely supplemented their with thoso

we recall how essential they once woro as "podges and

viridl7 remember a fresco of the Last 8uppi r, ana poor, ilishommn'ii

Judas going forth into the outer darkness clutching at lite

Clement of Alexandria suggested to the Christians of his

day heathen subjects cut on stones and

Games apt illustration of the Christian race. St. John

Damascenus, writing in the eighth century, strongly defends

manuscripts of the Middle Ages, the profusion of sculpture,

Symbolic forms may be readily divided into three distinct

based on some definite passage of the Bible. The second

one to whom the logend of the phoenix is unknown, to whom

paintings on classic vases or the masterpieces of Greek

symbol is a just and beautiful one; but such a symbol gives

lighted up and brightened by some picturesque allusion, the

that the Lord commanded Moses to make a vestment for the

the saying of the apostle, I am become as sounding brass

or a tinkling cymbal.' The hardness of the metal signifieth

sensible are ministered to him by means of sensible things." ST. JOHN

fortitude in themind of tie preacher; whence saith the Lord,

Behold, I have made thy face strong against their faces.

The clapper or iron which, by striking on either side, maketh

of our Lord Jesus Christ The hammer affixed to the frame

by which the bell is struck signifieth the right mind of the

worship, as may be very evidently seen in the adoration paid

into the wilderness of the scapegoat, the Feast of Tubornades,

bol had become a truth, every shadow a WriWs

over again that in the fulfilment we have the reality of which

Japanese lacquer tray, in the carvings of a Celtic cross,

our thoughts naturally turn in the first place to symbolism of

earthly life and sacrifice of our Lord. These in turn -will

a large section of objects, such as instruments of martyr-