![]() ![]() Cristo en la cruz – Obra de Fra Angelico – Museo de San Marcos Jesus halo is usually inserted in a red cross, with three visible arms recalling Trinity. There are precise rules that define the use of a halo in the sacred Christian art.įirst of all, we need to make a distinction between the rounded halo, only for angels and saints, and the sunburst halo, placed on blessed people’s heads. Even Doctors of the Church and angels were sometimes crowned with the flame of the Divine inspiration. At the same way, the Holy Evangelists could be represented as their symbolic animal with a flame surrounding their heads. The Holy Apostles were sometimes represented with a flame on their heads, symbol of their divine inspiration. ![]() Originally, saints had laurel crowns like the Roman emperors and famous people, but later the laurel crown was replaced by a golden crown, and in the end, by a golden circle. The halo on the saints’ heads in sacred images is usually represented as a circle painted in gold or blue. The light they radiate is then of two kinds: on one side it comes from their head and body thanks to their merits, on the other side it is the reflection of the divine light that envelopes them and permeates them. The saints are men and women that were touched in a special way by the divine grace, appointed with the love of God, made instruments of His will. 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.
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