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Christianity Quintych Watercolor Study

SYMBOLISM & SOURCES

CENTER SECTION

The focal point of this section and of the entire quintych is the lamb, which has a long and important symbolic history in Judeo- Christian tradition. The lamb was the animal God told Moses to have the captive Jews in Egypt slaughter and smear its blood on their door lintels to allow the death He was inflicting on the first born of the Egyptians to pass over the Jewish homes; therefore, the Passover. The lamb is one of the oldest symbols in Christianity. It symbolizes Christ as God’s ultimate sacrifice for humankind. Pre-Rabbinic Judaism was a faith based on blood sacrifice at the Temple to mediate the relationship between God and humans. Christ was the sacrifice that cleansed all sin and saved all people who believed. One of the main New Testament references of lamb symbolism is John 1:29, where John the Baptist declared, upon Jesus’ arrival for baptism, “There is the Lamb of God who takes away takes away the sin of the world.”

The lamb in the center section is holding a cross symbolic of the crucifixion, but the cross also bears the banner of the resurrection, representing the triumph of Christ over death and the promise he holds for all Christians to rise above death. Wearing a circular halo with the cross through the middle, the traditional halo worn only by Christ, the lamb stands on a hill with four rivers. The hill is symbolic of the Christian church and the four rivers of the four gospels that carry the message of Christ. The wound in the side of the lamb is analogous to the wound in the side of Christ, the blood sacrifice and the Eucharist. The blood is carried by a river of the gospels to the lower section.

Above the lamb is a dove. The dove also has a long history in Judeo-Christian tradition; from the messenger of peace and forgiveness in the story of Noah, to the common sacrificial bird at the Jewish Temple, to the Christian symbol of the Holy Spirit as it is used in this painting. The Holy Spirit as a part of the Trinity is the manifestation of God that is bestowed on people to fill them with God and unify them with their faith. It is commonly portrayed as a white dove, but I made a conscious departure from this and depicted the Holy Spirit as a mourning dove. My reasoning for this is personal and multiple. First, every Spring I am fortunate enough to have several pairs of mourning doves nest in the shelterbelt outside my studio, bringing me a summer of enjoyment with their beauty, song, and relationships with one another. Second, and more darkly, every Fall these same gentle creatures are hunted and killed by the thousands for the enjoyment of men. This deep dichotomy of joy and pain represents to me aspects of the Christian experience.

TOP SECTION

Above the dove is the section of heaven with an image of God. Again, I have chosen an unconventional representation. Rather than depicting God as an elderly man I have chosen to represent him as a relatively young man. This approach arose due to what I interpret as the scriptural revelations of the image of God. The image of God has been revealed twice, once as Adam and secondly as Jesus, both representations focusing on a young man. My additional motivation for this representation is the concept of the Trinity. My painting of God is loosely based on images from the Byzantine period where Christ is represented as “Pantocrator,” the omnipotent creator of the universe, symbolizing God, Christ, and the Holy Spirit as one entity. God wears His traditional triangular halo representing the Trinity. The design of the robes of God are based on those of Christ in the 16th century Italian artist, Leonardo da Vinci’s, great painting, The Last Supper. The colors of the robes are changed to gold as the color of God and white as the symbolic color of faith and glory. The monogram I have placed on the robe consists of the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet, the alpha and omega, symbolizing the immortality of God.

BOTTOM SECTION

Below the lamb is the section of hell. The rivers of the gospels cannot enter, but the blood of Christ enters and christens the skull of Adam in hell, washing away the original sin of man, liberating humankind. This symbolism is my variation on a theme often depicted with the crucifixion, where the blood of Christ runs down the cross and on to the skull of Adam over which the cross has been erected. Hell is inhabited by tortured souls whose forms I have gleaned from various sections of the massive bronze doors, The Gates of Hell, by late 19th century French sculptor, Auguste Rodin.

RIGHT SECTION

Paul is the apostle depicted to the right of the lamb. I have chosen him because, to my understanding, it was Paul who truly formed Christianity as a religion. It was he who made Christianity an independent belief, did much to distance it from Judaism, and discarded much of the Jewish tradition. It was Paul who interpreted Christ as a new law that overrode many of the laws of the Jews. My portrait is based on the depiction of Paul by the 16th century German artist, Albrecht Durer, in his diptych, The Four Apostles.

LEFT SECTION

To the left of the lamb is the apostle James the Lesser (the “lesser” to differentiate him from James the Greater who was one of Jesus’ disciples). After Christ’s crucifixion James the Lesser rapidly rose in standing with the followers of Jesus in Jerusalem and became the primary leader of the Christians. He approached Christianity as an evolution of Judaism and maintained strong ties to the Jewish faith and traditions. James’ execution in 62 C.E. and the crushing of the Jewish rebellion in 70 C.E. by the Romans led to the near extermination of this form of Christianity, while Pauline Christianity grew in Greece and Asia Minor. My image of James is also partially based on the Four Apostles by Durer. I have taken the body and robe design used by Durer for his depiction of the apostle John, and added the head of James, loosely based on the likeness created by the 15th century Venetian artist, Mantegna, in a now destroyed series of murals concerning the life of James. I have James holding a book written in Hebrew, while on the right, Paul holds a book labeled in Greek with the first three letters from the name Jesus.