The fir-cone, so common in Assyrian ornament, was an emblem of fire, as the lotus was an emblem of water, and this cone placed on a staff, and adorned with ribbons, was carried by the Bacchanals and Mænads when celebrating the festivals of Dionysus, the Greek Bacchus. This is known as the “thyrsus,” or staff of Bacchus. (See [Fig. 167].) The pine-tree was sacred to Dionysus, from its supplying turpentine
Fig. 167.—Three forms of the thyrsus or staff of Bacchus.
to make torches; wine also was made from its cones, both important elements in these festivals. The head of the thyrsus was often made of ivy leaves instead of the pine-cone, and Bacchus is said to have concealed spears under this head of leaves, and thus overcome those who were inimical to him (Diodorus Sic. lib. iii. cap. iv.; Ovid’s Metamor. iii. 667). The vine and the ivy were also sacred to Bacchus, and are symbolical of him in Greek and Roman decoration. Early Christian and mediæval art are also teeming with symbolic ornaments. These ornaments are often called indifferently “emblems,” “attributes,” “symbols,” &c. Allegory is a kind of parable, and the word is often applied to allegorical painting or sculpture, which is a representation of one thing under the image of another, and is mostly expressed by human or animal forms.[9] In a recent picture called “Hope,” by Mr. Watts, we have a fine allegorical illustration, in a figure seated on a sphere, or the world, bending her ear to catch the strains of a lyre which she plays, which has only one string left; there is a weird feeling of loneliness about the composition, just relieved from utter desolation by the music that is left in the one string.
CHAPTER IX
THE arabesques of the Vatican have been noticed before; there were, however, arabesques on the ceiling of the Sala del Cambio at Perugia, painted by Perugino, Raphael’s master, also in the Borgia apartment at the Vatican, and in the Villa Madama; arabesques of the latter are said to have been copied from the plaster work in Hadrian’s villa near Tivoli.
Raphael, being one of the greatest modern painters, added to the beauty of this sort of decoration by the exquisite drawing and composition of the figures. Some of the medallions at the Loggias contain subjects said to be taken from antique gems, and Scripture subjects are also introduced; the expulsion of Adam and Eve from Paradise is balanced by one of Omphale and Hercules, the queen having the club.
When a cipher or a sign conveys to our minds an idea, or an association of ideas, we call it a “symbol,” particularly if the idea is connected with religion. The commonest form met with in symbolic art is the circle, as the symbol of eternity, from its having neither beginning nor ending; it often appears as a serpent with its tail in its mouth, for this, like many other Pagan symbols, was adopted by the early Christians. The circle in the shape of a wheel has perhaps had the widest signification in art. The wheel of fire, or sun-wheel, was an emblem of the Teutonic sun-worshippers. The tchakra, or sacred wheel, is the emblem of the religion of Brahma; it is the shield of Brahma and Vishnu, as a wheel of fire; it is to the Siamese a type of universal dominion, a sign of disaster, and the symbol of eternity. (See [Fig. 168].) The wheel form at [Fig. 169] is the kikumon or badge of the Empire of Japan; it is derived, however, from the chrysanthemum.