Sunflower is good, nuts are bad: What do Christian symbols mean in painting, literature and cinema

2024 Author: Richard Flannagan | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-15 23:55

Christian culture has shaped the modern European culture, especially in the field of art. Even now, switching to the language of images, European cinema, painting, literature are turning to traditional symbols, for half of Europe - Catholic and Protestant. Ancient painting, on the other hand, sometimes cannot be understood at all without knowing this cultural code. Here are just a few very important images.

Rose - Christ, lily - Virgo

It is easy to imagine why the rose as a flower became the symbol of the goddess of love Venus; it is much more difficult to understand what Christ has to do with it. One explanation is this: the rose combines thorns and a fragrant beautiful flower, just as the life of a believer combines suffering due to renunciation of sin and heavenly reward. The rose in the hand of Christ is a symbol of the teaching that he brought to people. It is usually red because he shed his blood for the people to believe.

A white rose, like a white lily (by the way, in antiquity - also a flower associated with purely carnal love) is a symbol of the Holy Virgin, the mother of Christ, and her purity at the moment of conception. Lily was also perceived as a particularly delicate flower, and the Mother of God, according to legends, intercedes before God for the souls of petty sinners out of the compassion of her tender soul.

Palma - martyr, skull - hermit

Some of the symbols passed into secular art from traditional Catholic iconography. In it, for example, martyrs for the faith were designated with a palm branch, and hermits with skulls; accordingly, in secular painting, a palm branch in the hands of a girl can mean that she died for an idea or (since many martyrs took a vow of celibacy) simply virgin, and the skull can be not only a reminder of death, but also talk about the loneliness of a person, his solitude.

Different objects can refer to different stories and qualities of the saints. Remember in Lorca's Romance of the Gendarmerie the girl whose severed breasts lie on a platter - a reference to the martyrdom of Saint Agatha; in the days of her memory, rituals are performed that should protect the house. In the romance, in contrast to the image of Saint Agatha, the houses of the gypsies were defenseless against the attack of the pogromists.

A spear or a horse trampling on a snake can refer to the image of George the Victorious, who protected the virgins who were sacrificed to the dragon; in a broad sense in art, its attributes refer to the idea of protecting civilians from armed infidels or innocent souls from the devil-tempter.

Symbols come from text

Many images in the art of traditionally Christian countries do not refer to iconography, but to images of the main Christian book - the Bible. That is why the bitten apple in the frame of the fantastic film "Doctor Strange" at the moment when he opens the magic book with the secrets of time carries a very clear message about how to perceive what is happening. Indeed, he is soon informed that he is playing with forbidden knowledge.

An ear of bread reminds of Jesus' parable about the grains thrown into the ground, and can carry several different meanings: from a gradually sprouted idea to the immortality of the human soul. Birds that do not sow or reap in the speech of Christ emphasize the carelessness of the characters in the paintings. The staircase leading upward, so that it is not visible where it rests, can refer to Jacob's dream about the staircase to heaven. The snake reminds of the fall, even if in the picture it is in the form of decoration, and Esmeralda's goat in Hugo may well emphasize that she is a pagan: the parable about the separation of goats from lambs is remembered, for example, contrasting good Christians and all others. Or Esmeralda's goat can tell us that the girl's story will separate the bad from the good.

The woman in the Epistle of the Apostle Peter is compared to a fragile vessel, and the jug in the picture can speak of a girl or woman more than her clothes or occupation. For example, an inverted, empty jug next to an unmarried girl means that she has been seduced; an open vent directed at the viewer can mean temptation; a broken jug with spilled water or milk - rape. You can find genre scenes in painting that were in fact once considered instructive - a sad or crying girl over milk poured from a jug and lapped by a kitten. The kitten here, although without any regard for Christianity, is also a symbol of the unborn child.

Bloody heart, crown of thorns

Most of the symbols in some way denote the presence of Christ or the relationship of the depicted character with the values of Christianity. So, for example, a killed white dove or lamb on a canvas or in a film will indicate a cruel person who is alien to the mercy commanded by Christ.

Among the symbols of Jesus - a fish (because he catches human souls, like a fisherman catches a fish), broken bread and a vine (a reference to the sacrament), a lying knife (sacrifice), a heart with a wound (willingness to die for the salvation of others), a piece of a spear (which he was finished off on the cross), a crown of thorns (which at the symbol level is replaced with any other crown of thorns).

Non-Bible Symbols

Over time, Catholic culture has grown in symbols that are not associated with the lives of the saints or with the text of the Bible. So, for example, the pomegranate began to denote the unity of the church, and also turned into an allegorical image of a bleeding heart. If you look at the painting by Sandro Botticelli (however, not secular in the plot) "Madonna with a pomegranate", you can see that the opened pomegranate is held by the Virgin just opposite the heart of the little Christ.

The walnut can be a soul chained in the shell of sin. An hourglass (a clock filled with "dust") is the finiteness of earthly life and at the same time the hope for life after death (after all, they are turned over so that they continue to move). A sunflower is a sign of loyalty to God, a willingness to always remain facing him. A man in red, especially a lame one, can represent the devil, and a woman under an apple tree or with an apple in her hand is a temptress. The devil can also be denoted by the wolf, since he lies in wait for "Christ's flock." The most amazing thing is that each of these symbols can be found in contemporary art, and then a movie or a book begins to play with new facets.

This does not mean that all significant images necessarily come from Christianity. Love and Dislike: Details of the paintings that were immediately understood by the audience of the 19th century.