Saturday, February 25, 2006

The black halo

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Speaking of Judas, from the St Matthias post, here is one of the most interesting pictures I have seen from Christian art. Normally, when Judas is depicted, he is distinguished from the other apostles and saints because he has no halo (or "nimbus"). This is the only case I've seen where he's depicted with a black halo. Kinda creepy. Judas is in the front, second from the left. Notice he's holding the purse in his hand. No comment about what he's sitting on (let the reader understand).

As you may be aware, Judas Iscariot has undergone something of a rehabilitation in an effort for scholars to understand why de did what he did. You can also read more about it here.

4 comments:

Texanglican (R.W. Foster+) said...

If one visits medieval churches in Greece, Father, virtually every depiction of Judas in the churches' frescoes has the traitor's face (or at least his eyes) scratched out. Apparently sometimes even the artists who painted the frescoes would paint Judas and then scratch him out themselves!
(And your remark about Judas' choice of seating is remarkably clever, sir!)

Anonymous said...

please enlighten me on the 3 legged stool.

Texanglican (R.W. Foster+) said...

One frequently hears of the "three-legged stool of Anglicanism": Scripture, Tradition and Reason.

Anonymous said...

this is not the only time Judas was depicted with a black Halo. There is this Famous Italian painter called Far Angelico (he was also a monk) He painted frescoes of the Chapel of the Holy Sacrament at St Peter's in Rome (sadly demolished by a later Pope).