The Anchor is the Christian symbol of immovable firmness, hope, and patience; and in this sense we find it very frequently in the catacombs, and on the ancient Christian gems. It was given to several of the early saints as a symbol. Subsequently a legend was invented to account for the symbol, turning it into an attribute, as was the case with the lion and the stag. For example: to St. Clement the anchor was first given as the symbol of his constancy in Christian hope, and thence we find, subsequently invented, the story of his being thrown into the sea with the anchor round his neck. On the vane of the Church of St. Clement in the Strand, the anchor, the parish device, was anciently placed; and as in the English fancy no anchor can be well separated from a ship, they have lately placed a ship on the other side,—the original signification of the anchor, as applied to St. Clement the martyr, being unknown or forgotten.
The Lamp, Lantern, or Taper, is the old emblem of piety: ‘Let your light so shine before men:’—and it also signifies wisdom. In the first sense we find this attribute in the hand of St. Gudula, St. Geneviève of Paris, and St. Bridget; while the lamp in the hand of St. Lucia signifies celestial light or wisdom.
Flowers and Fruits, often so beautifully introduced into ecclesiastical works of Art, may be merely ornamental; Crivelli, and some of the Venetian and Lombard painters, were fond of rich festoons of fruit, and backgrounds of foliage and roses. But in some instances they have a definite significance. Roses are symbolical in pictures of the Madonna, who is the ‘Rose of Sharon.’[11] The wreath of roses on the brow of St. Cecilia, the roses and fruits borne by St. Dorothea, are explained by the legends.
The apple was the received emblem of the Fall of Man and original sin. Placed in pictures of the Madonna and Child, either in the hand of the Infant Christ, or presented by an angel, it signified Redemption from the consequences of the Fall. The pomegranate, bursting open, and the seeds visible, was an emblem of the future—of hope in immortality. When an apple, a pear, or a pomegranate is placed in the hand of St. Catherine as the mystical Sposa of Christ, which continually occurs, particularly in the German pictures, the allusion is to be taken in the scriptural sense: ‘The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace.’
V. Of the Significance of Colours.
In very early Art we find colours used in a symbolical or mystic sense, and, until the ancient principles and traditions were wholly worn out of memory or set aside by the later painters, certain colours were appropriate to certain subjects and personages, and could not arbitrarily be applied or misapplied. In the old specimens of stained glass we find these significations scrupulously attended to. Thus:—
White, represented by the diamond or silver, was the emblem of light, religious purity, innocence, virginity, faith, joy, and life. Our Saviour wears white after his resurrection. In the judge it indicated integrity; in the rich man humility; in the woman chastity. It was the colour consecrated to the Virgin, who, however, never wears white except in pictures of the Assumption.
Red, the ruby, signified fire, divine love, the Holy Spirit, heat, or the creative power, and royalty. White and red roses expressed love and innocence, or love and wisdom, as in the garland with which the angel crowns St. Cecilia. In a bad sense, red signified blood, war, hatred, and punishment. Red and black combined were the colours of purgatory and the Devil.
Blue, or the sapphire, expressed heaven, the firmament, truth, constancy, fidelity. Christ and the Virgin wear the red tunic and the blue mantle, as signifying heavenly love and heavenly truth.[12] The same colours were given to St. John the evangelist, with this difference,—that he wore the blue tunic and the red mantle; in later pictures the colours are sometimes red and green.
Yellow, or gold, was the symbol of the sun; of the goodness of God; initiation, or marriage; faith, or fruitfulness. St. Joseph, the husband of the Virgin, wears yellow. In pictures of the apostles, St. Peter wears a yellow mantle over a blue tunic. In a bad sense, yellow signifies inconstancy, jealousy, deceit; in this sense it is given to the traitor Judas, who is generally habited in dirty yellow.