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Article SYMBOLISM OF COLOUR.—II. ← Page 2 of 4 →
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Symbolism Of Colour.—Ii.
a- blue mantle over yellow tunic . In a bad sense it signifies inconstancy , deceit , etc . Violet or amethyst is worn by martyrs . In some instances Christ risen appears in a purple mantle ; Mary Magdalene , who as a patron saint wears the red robe—as penitent wears blue and violet ( so the beautiful recumbent Magdalene
, by Corregio , at Dresden , in bri ght blue ; a copy in the National Gallery . ) Grey , the colour of ashes , signified mourning , humility , and innocence accused ; hence adopted by the Franciscans . Black expressed the earth , darkness , and its prince . In some illuminated MS ., Jesusin the temptationwears a
, , black robe . AVhite aud black united signify humiliation or mourning ; hence adopted by the Dominicans and Carmelites . Creutzer ( "Symbolik" ii . p . 507 , note , ) mainly agreeing with Jamieson on the Christian symbolical colours , gives some points of comparison wifch those attributed to their heroes b y tlie early German writersciting some as his authority .
, Jesus wears in old paintings , almost invariably a red garment , as Sol novus , a name given him by the Christian Fathers : so also the ancient deities of the sun . In the Niebelungen the hero Siegfrit is clothed in white ( v . 1610 . ) " Den helden vii cremeit
A-on sne-blaiicher varvve , ir ros lint aiich ir chleit . " " The hero well disposed , Of snow white colour was Ms steed ancl eke his robe . " And Flos , the hero of another poem , ( Pal . MS . No . 362 , ) is painted red and white , whilst the significantly named Blautflos is blue . Againin the Niebelungen Hagen and Daukwertas
, , the enemies of Siegfrit , appear black as devils ( v . 1621 . ) " Mit iu ehamen Vauchwart aut audi Hagen AVir horeu sageumore , wie die degene Von raben swarzer varvve trligcn richiu chleit . "
' * ' With him arrived Dankwart and okc Hagen AVe ' ve heard toll report , how these thanes Of raven black colour wore rich robes . " Notice is also given of the illustration by Grimm of a remarkable instance of colouring in fche old poems of Titurel and Purcw . iL We canhoweverrival these ancient Teutons in a master
, , of poetic colouring , in our own Spenser , by a number of examples ( due to the industry of Burnet , in his Treatise on Colours ) collected from the Faerie Queen , where the attribute , is , generally too , coupled with a mora ] purpose . Thus : —
" Humbleness , as Humilita was , an aged sire all clothed in grey , "Canto x . 5 . ' ¦ His Reverence : right cleanly clad in comely sad attire . "—ib . 1 . " His Faith , Fidelia : . she ivas arrayed all in lily white . "— lb . 13 . ' His Hope , hipcranza : was clad in blue that her beseemed well /'ib . 1-1 . " . -I * ! Parity , Charissa : well in yellow robes arrayed . "— ib . 30 . " His Falsehood clad in scarlet red , led with
Purp gold and pearl of rich array . "—Canto xi . 10 . " His Praise desire : In a long purple pall whose skirt with gold Was fretted all about was she arrayed . "—Canto is . 37 . ' * ' His Idleness . The nurse of sin Arrayed in habit black and amice thin . "—Canto iv . 18 . The same author gives us also some further illustrations ( p . 38 ) . Colours have also a fitness according to the several
personages represented . Thus , we read of the azure zone of Venus ; the sea green garments of JJVptune ; and the red mantle of Mars . Yellow , observes Mr . Craig ( Lectures , p . 173 ) , is understood to represent power ; purple , authority ; violet , humility j green , servitude . Upon this explanation we are enabled to account for the invariable practice among
painters of portraying the blessed Saviour of mankind iu garments of red and blue ; the red implies his comprehensive We to the human race , as well as the power to fulfil the dictates of that love ; the blue his divine ori gin . That the symbols in use amongst the various nations of antiquity we have just passed in review , from the earliest period in the Assyrian and Egyptian people , and thence descending to the Greeks and Romans , were afterwards taken
up by the church—that these have not yet lost their significance and value in the minds ofthe people—may be proved from the existing and corresponding superstitions still prevalent amongst our own peasantry and the vulgar of every nation throughout Europe ; our vouchers will be drawn from the folkslore of them all—ancl to be enabled to compare them
with the above more remote or classic examples , we will take the colours seriatim . As the objects of popular belief arc the mere creations of fancy , the clothing these airy nothings in the mythical colours of antiquity can be but a vestige ol the same ideas which ruled the earliest choice , an undercurrent of the primfflval creed which still silently and
unobserved guides the majority of the credulous or uneducated . Pied was the favourite mythic colour as of antiquity . If we but refer back to first tales of childhood , wo find Little Red Riding Hood and Mother Red Cap possibly the earliest impressions we received of colour ; ancl in the robin redbreasts our first infantile affection for the piety wifch which they
covered up the babes in the wood ; but as the choice amongst the feathered inhabitants was open , it colour may have given the impulse for its selection . Grimm tells us , however , that it had also its connexion ivith thunder ( D . M ., p . 167 , note ); " . But the sitting redbreast or red tail seems to call down the thunder ; was it from its red plumage that ifc was sacred to the red bearded god ? " Both Jupiter and Thor are
represented as red beards . For the latter , vide Grimm , p . 1 C 1 . In the olden northern Sagas he ( Thor ) is always shown with a red beard , however his other attributes may differ . This must be referred to the fiery appearance of his lightnings , and p . 96-5 , Douar ( another name for Thor ) is red bearded ; aud the proverb says , " lioth hart , dlnevcls cert , " redbeard ,
clcvilfearcl . " Ifc requires , however , some consideration therefore to believe that the christian royal convert , St . 0 lav of Norway ' s , red beard should have a similar intent , unless applied by his enemies , the still unconverted pagans . We need nofc , indeed , wonder to find in the Scandinavian mythology a similar practice to what was usual at Pome for their highest
divinities . If we trust these later writers , the features of their earliest Jupiter , most probably the Ferrarius , were daubed over with a kind of red ochre ; and as their triumphant warriors also aspired to the same distinction , we think the directors of the . 'Roman court , if they got a bust of this ancient nunien of Romulus , would not be far wrong to go to
the ethnological figures of Dr . Lathom in the same locality , for patterns of polychromy wifch which to adorn his features , which the red and coloured streaks of these savages render so ugly to our present ideas . Pliny , after telling us ( Nat , Hist , xxxiii . ) that the famous painters of Greece only used four colours for tlieii * immortal works , as is the generally restricted number in the instances above , goes on ( xxxiii . 3 G ) : —
"Invenitur m argentanis inctallis minium quoquc ct nunc mici ' pigmenta magna : auctoritatis et quondam non solum magna ; sec ! sacra . Enumerat auctorcs A errius qtiibus credere sitnecesse Jovi-i ipsius simulacri tlicbus testis minio illini solitam , ti-iumphiintuympc corpora : sic Camillus triumphasse . " The use of the illini I think sufficiently shows thafc the colour was laid on in streaks or lines , and not as on the sphinxes and the statues at the Aboo Simbel , to express the natural tint of their skin ; nor does the following sentence from Arnobius ( Contra Geiites vi . ) seem to bear auy other
meaning : — "Inter deos videmus vestros Jovis torvissumuu fuorcm mei'o oblitam minio et nomine Frugiicri nuiiciipatam . " The beauty or sanctity of the tint seems afterwards tc have reduced tho whole pagan Olympus to its use . In addition to its use for Pan and the other field deities and f"i '
, Mars , quoted above from Creutzer , we may bring the iino = from Virgil ( Eel . x ., 20 ) : — ' ' Pan Deus Arcadia * venifc , quern vidimus ipsi Sanguine ! ebuli baecis , miiiioque rubeatem , "
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software.
Symbolism Of Colour.—Ii.
a- blue mantle over yellow tunic . In a bad sense it signifies inconstancy , deceit , etc . Violet or amethyst is worn by martyrs . In some instances Christ risen appears in a purple mantle ; Mary Magdalene , who as a patron saint wears the red robe—as penitent wears blue and violet ( so the beautiful recumbent Magdalene
, by Corregio , at Dresden , in bri ght blue ; a copy in the National Gallery . ) Grey , the colour of ashes , signified mourning , humility , and innocence accused ; hence adopted by the Franciscans . Black expressed the earth , darkness , and its prince . In some illuminated MS ., Jesusin the temptationwears a
, , black robe . AVhite aud black united signify humiliation or mourning ; hence adopted by the Dominicans and Carmelites . Creutzer ( "Symbolik" ii . p . 507 , note , ) mainly agreeing with Jamieson on the Christian symbolical colours , gives some points of comparison wifch those attributed to their heroes b y tlie early German writersciting some as his authority .
, Jesus wears in old paintings , almost invariably a red garment , as Sol novus , a name given him by the Christian Fathers : so also the ancient deities of the sun . In the Niebelungen the hero Siegfrit is clothed in white ( v . 1610 . ) " Den helden vii cremeit
A-on sne-blaiicher varvve , ir ros lint aiich ir chleit . " " The hero well disposed , Of snow white colour was Ms steed ancl eke his robe . " And Flos , the hero of another poem , ( Pal . MS . No . 362 , ) is painted red and white , whilst the significantly named Blautflos is blue . Againin the Niebelungen Hagen and Daukwertas
, , the enemies of Siegfrit , appear black as devils ( v . 1621 . ) " Mit iu ehamen Vauchwart aut audi Hagen AVir horeu sageumore , wie die degene Von raben swarzer varvve trligcn richiu chleit . "
' * ' With him arrived Dankwart and okc Hagen AVe ' ve heard toll report , how these thanes Of raven black colour wore rich robes . " Notice is also given of the illustration by Grimm of a remarkable instance of colouring in fche old poems of Titurel and Purcw . iL We canhoweverrival these ancient Teutons in a master
, , of poetic colouring , in our own Spenser , by a number of examples ( due to the industry of Burnet , in his Treatise on Colours ) collected from the Faerie Queen , where the attribute , is , generally too , coupled with a mora ] purpose . Thus : —
" Humbleness , as Humilita was , an aged sire all clothed in grey , "Canto x . 5 . ' ¦ His Reverence : right cleanly clad in comely sad attire . "—ib . 1 . " His Faith , Fidelia : . she ivas arrayed all in lily white . "— lb . 13 . ' His Hope , hipcranza : was clad in blue that her beseemed well /'ib . 1-1 . " . -I * ! Parity , Charissa : well in yellow robes arrayed . "— ib . 30 . " His Falsehood clad in scarlet red , led with
Purp gold and pearl of rich array . "—Canto xi . 10 . " His Praise desire : In a long purple pall whose skirt with gold Was fretted all about was she arrayed . "—Canto is . 37 . ' * ' His Idleness . The nurse of sin Arrayed in habit black and amice thin . "—Canto iv . 18 . The same author gives us also some further illustrations ( p . 38 ) . Colours have also a fitness according to the several
personages represented . Thus , we read of the azure zone of Venus ; the sea green garments of JJVptune ; and the red mantle of Mars . Yellow , observes Mr . Craig ( Lectures , p . 173 ) , is understood to represent power ; purple , authority ; violet , humility j green , servitude . Upon this explanation we are enabled to account for the invariable practice among
painters of portraying the blessed Saviour of mankind iu garments of red and blue ; the red implies his comprehensive We to the human race , as well as the power to fulfil the dictates of that love ; the blue his divine ori gin . That the symbols in use amongst the various nations of antiquity we have just passed in review , from the earliest period in the Assyrian and Egyptian people , and thence descending to the Greeks and Romans , were afterwards taken
up by the church—that these have not yet lost their significance and value in the minds ofthe people—may be proved from the existing and corresponding superstitions still prevalent amongst our own peasantry and the vulgar of every nation throughout Europe ; our vouchers will be drawn from the folkslore of them all—ancl to be enabled to compare them
with the above more remote or classic examples , we will take the colours seriatim . As the objects of popular belief arc the mere creations of fancy , the clothing these airy nothings in the mythical colours of antiquity can be but a vestige ol the same ideas which ruled the earliest choice , an undercurrent of the primfflval creed which still silently and
unobserved guides the majority of the credulous or uneducated . Pied was the favourite mythic colour as of antiquity . If we but refer back to first tales of childhood , wo find Little Red Riding Hood and Mother Red Cap possibly the earliest impressions we received of colour ; ancl in the robin redbreasts our first infantile affection for the piety wifch which they
covered up the babes in the wood ; but as the choice amongst the feathered inhabitants was open , it colour may have given the impulse for its selection . Grimm tells us , however , that it had also its connexion ivith thunder ( D . M ., p . 167 , note ); " . But the sitting redbreast or red tail seems to call down the thunder ; was it from its red plumage that ifc was sacred to the red bearded god ? " Both Jupiter and Thor are
represented as red beards . For the latter , vide Grimm , p . 1 C 1 . In the olden northern Sagas he ( Thor ) is always shown with a red beard , however his other attributes may differ . This must be referred to the fiery appearance of his lightnings , and p . 96-5 , Douar ( another name for Thor ) is red bearded ; aud the proverb says , " lioth hart , dlnevcls cert , " redbeard ,
clcvilfearcl . " Ifc requires , however , some consideration therefore to believe that the christian royal convert , St . 0 lav of Norway ' s , red beard should have a similar intent , unless applied by his enemies , the still unconverted pagans . We need nofc , indeed , wonder to find in the Scandinavian mythology a similar practice to what was usual at Pome for their highest
divinities . If we trust these later writers , the features of their earliest Jupiter , most probably the Ferrarius , were daubed over with a kind of red ochre ; and as their triumphant warriors also aspired to the same distinction , we think the directors of the . 'Roman court , if they got a bust of this ancient nunien of Romulus , would not be far wrong to go to
the ethnological figures of Dr . Lathom in the same locality , for patterns of polychromy wifch which to adorn his features , which the red and coloured streaks of these savages render so ugly to our present ideas . Pliny , after telling us ( Nat , Hist , xxxiii . ) that the famous painters of Greece only used four colours for tlieii * immortal works , as is the generally restricted number in the instances above , goes on ( xxxiii . 3 G ) : —
"Invenitur m argentanis inctallis minium quoquc ct nunc mici ' pigmenta magna : auctoritatis et quondam non solum magna ; sec ! sacra . Enumerat auctorcs A errius qtiibus credere sitnecesse Jovi-i ipsius simulacri tlicbus testis minio illini solitam , ti-iumphiintuympc corpora : sic Camillus triumphasse . " The use of the illini I think sufficiently shows thafc the colour was laid on in streaks or lines , and not as on the sphinxes and the statues at the Aboo Simbel , to express the natural tint of their skin ; nor does the following sentence from Arnobius ( Contra Geiites vi . ) seem to bear auy other
meaning : — "Inter deos videmus vestros Jovis torvissumuu fuorcm mei'o oblitam minio et nomine Frugiicri nuiiciipatam . " The beauty or sanctity of the tint seems afterwards tc have reduced tho whole pagan Olympus to its use . In addition to its use for Pan and the other field deities and f"i '
, Mars , quoted above from Creutzer , we may bring the iino = from Virgil ( Eel . x ., 20 ) : — ' ' Pan Deus Arcadia * venifc , quern vidimus ipsi Sanguine ! ebuli baecis , miiiioque rubeatem , "