![]() ![]() ![]() The origins of the Saints haloĪs we already saw, saints were soon given the honor of the halo in sacred art, right after Jesus and Mary, and with the due differences compared to them. At the beginning the halo was a prerogative of Jesus, Mary and the angels only later apostles and saints deserved to wear it, too. The firsts that brought the halo in a Christian setting were the Byzantine emperor Justinian and his wife Theodora: in the mosaics in the Cathedral of San Vitale in Ravenna, they were both represented with their heads surrounded by a golden disc.Īfter this first lay representation, from the IV century, Christians began using the halo to underline the spiritual importance of some figures, as symbol of bliss and heavenly glory. Rays of light instead surrounded Jesus and the other religious figures. As it was for the Romans, halos identified sovereigns, characters that had great powers and earthly dignity. At the beginning, it was only meant to underline the political importance of some characters, such as princes or emperors. The halo in the Christian iconographyĬhristians began using the halo in their representations (pictures, statues, mosaics, etc.) only between the II and the III century a.C. They were rich clients or intellectual people, at least until the 17th century, when Pope Urban III strictly forbid the representation of still living and not yet beatified men with halos on their heads. In pagan civilizations, the halo was expression of general power, divine but also human, and this trend went on even in the Christian era, when the halo was used not only to crown saints’ and angels’ heads, but also famous people’s heads. The halo has then always been intended as a symbol of light and grace given directly by God. In statues, it was usually represented as a golden disc placed behind the head of the character. In paintings, the halo went through a remarkable evolution, from big golden circles to halos of light rays, to thin golden rings barely visible to the eyes. In some cases we make a distinction between nimbus (a light that only envelopes the head), the halo (a light that radiates from the body) and the glory, or almond (combination of both, used only for Jesus and Mary to symbolize their divine nature). The word ‘halo’ means golden, the round shape comes from the fact that the circle is a symbol of perfection, and therefore perfectly represents sanctity. What is a halo? It is a ring of shiny light enveloping the head or the whole figure of a person. The Egyptians, the Greeks and later the Romans, used a halo of light to underline the power of their gods, and later, even of their sovereigns. It has been used in sacred art as figurative feature since the beginning in many civilizations and cultures to state the divinity, power and regality of a character, and later, in a Christian setting, sanctity. The irradiating light has been present in art illustrations since very ancient times. The saints halo, the nimbus, the vesica piscis (or almond). Symbol of light and grace given directly by God, the Saints halo expresses their bliss status and the divine majesty they are appointed with. 1 The halo in the Christian iconography.It was probably used to differentiate the centurion, not only from the saintly persons on the opposite side of the cross, but also from the other soldiers in the crowd since, unlike the centurion, they did not recognise Christ's divinity. It is also seen in his Crucifixion panel no.14 in the Staatliches Lindenau Kunst Museum, Altenburg. The hexagonal halo of the pointing centurion in the Crucifixion scene is peculiar to Bernardo Daddi's workshop. Popes, emperors and donors may have square shaped halos, and allegorical figures such as the Virtues and Vices can have hexagonal ones. However, not all haloes are circular: God the Father sometimes has a triangular shaped halo to symbolise the Trinity. Christ's halo often contains the shape of a cross within it. ![]() ![]() Sometimes the name of the saint is inscribed within the halo, and the Virgin Mary's halo can include the words ' Ave Maria Gratia Plena' (Hail Mary, full of grace) - the words of greeting said to her at the Annunciation by the Archangel Gabriel. Saints are usually represented with a circular halo of heavenly light around their head, either in the form of a round disc or rays of gold lines. In religious art the halo can symbolise divine or sanctified status, or it can be used to distinguish a remarkable contemporary person. Four Paintings I Triptych I Inner right wing I Hexagonal halo ![]()
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