Symbolism

 

Daffodil:

 

Summary: Symbol of spring, rebirth, new beginnings and death.

 

"Today, the daffodil symbolizes spring, rebirth, and new beginnings. However, the ancient Greeks associated it with death. Daffodil's grew in the meadows where the god Hades captured the goddess Persephone and took her to the underworld. The alternate name for daffodil is narcissus and it is associated with the handsome Greek youth, Narcissus. While walking by a river, he stopped to drink and, taken by his own reflection, he leaned over the water too far, like a dropping daffodil, and drowned."

 

GAUDING, M. (2009). The Signs and Symbols Bible. Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.: New York. 302.

 

 

 

Flowers and Plants:

 

Summary: Symbol of beauty, abundance and usefulness of nature.

 

"Early Christian theologians and medieval encyclopedists, drawing upon biblical references and classical works on natural history, frequently used flowers and plants to signify spiritual and moral concepts, holy persons, and events. Particular flowers and plants in medieval art may thus be associated with specific figures or ideas; however, not all foliage depicted in medieval art is symbolic... The botanical world was created by *God on the third day of *Creation and figures importantly in the divine scheme. Along with the specific theological explications mentioned below, plants and flowers may more generally signify the beauty, abundance, and usefulness of nature - worthy of observation and naturalistic depiction - as well as symbolic interpretation."

 

ROSS, L. (1996). Medieval Art: A Topical Dictionary. Greenwood Press: West Port, USA. 90.

 

 

 

Fly:

 

Summary: Symbol of death, decay, transience of life and artistic skill.

 

"Fly. Flies, along with mosquitoes and gnats, are members of the order Diptera (some 150,000 known species) meaning “two wings.” They live in what Tudge calls “a staggering range of environments” and serve as the most significant insect vectors of disease (306).

 

Flies are intimately associated with the dead, indeed, they arrive so quickly after death to lay their EGGS, that pathologists can determine the time of death accurately by observing what stage in the fly’s life cycle is present. Because of their association with death and because they fly, in many ancient cultures flies were, according to Barbara Walker, like butterflies, symbols of the SOUL. Walker writes that many myths tell of flies entering women’s bodies in order to be reclothed in flesh (416). Chevalier and Gheerbrant verify the sacredness of flies in ancient Greece, noting that both Apollo and Zeus had names related to flies. They suggest that flies evoked the turmoil of Olympian life or the omnipresence of the gods (396). Tresidder, by contrast, states that flies symbolize evil and pestilence and were such a problem in the ancient world that the gods were invoked to deal with them – eg. Zeus Apomyios (“fly preventer”)(84). The Hebrew Beelzebub (from Ba’al-Zebub, “Lord of the Flies”) stemmed from the demonization of a Canaanite deity, a “Lord of Souls” and PSYCHOPOMP, guide of the dead (Becker 117; B. Walker 416). Elsewhere in the Ancient Near East, fly-shaped lapis lazuli beads and other fly-shaped jewellery are just one indication of the insect’s importance. In the Sumarian Inanna battlefields produced ample corpses on which flies laid their eggs. According to Bevan, flies were probably a nuisance in Greek sanctuaries, attracted by the remains of sacrificial animals – a share of the ox sacrificed to Apollo of Leukas was actually offered to flies. At Olympia Zeus Apomyios (averter of flies) was evoked to expel them, possibly because he was once a fly himself (Bevan 1:220). The Romans made bronze and silver fibulae in the form of flies. Pliny, in his Natural History, described how Apelles painted a fly so killfully that spectators attempted to brush it off. Thus began a tradition of flies as artistic tour de force, a small, apparently insignificant thing that demonstrates the artist’s genius (Eisler 130).

 

In Late Medieval and Renaissance paintings (particularly in Northern Renaissance art) flies were sometimes depicted on the edge of religious works, from the belief that their images repelled real flies (Hall, Illustrated Dictionary 25). In Christian art, flies symbolize evil, pestilence, and sin- sometimes in conjunction with goldfinch as a symbol of Christ as Saviour (Cooper 70), In Saint Jerome, images, flies appear on the Saint’s cloak, on a rock, and on a human skull in the Saint’s study. The fly was a symbol of the bringers of disease, and as discussed above, of Beelzebub. The fly on the skull was a memento mori image, but the other flies may be present to show off the painter’s illusionistic skills, a tradition, which as Panofsky showed, went back to classical antiquity (Friedmann 215f.). As the passage from Colgan shows, even flies overcame their disease-bearing pollution and persistent, irritating buzzing in the presence of the saints – an instance of animals acting in ways contrary to their nature. In the Dutch Vanitas tradition, flies symbolize the fleeting nature of time and the speed with which death arrives. Dürer painted flies on a number of occasions, probably in keeping with the notion of ly as tour de force stemming from Pliny’s story regarding Apelles’ aforementioned illusionistic fly. Dürer wished to impress patrons, identifying himself with Apelles, court painter to Alexander the Great – thus he hoped by genius (and flattery) to obtain the same role in the court of Maximilian (Eisler 130)."

 

WERNESS, H. B. (2006). Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in World Art. The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd: London. 180-183.

 

 

 

Goldfinch:

 

Summary: Symbol of Jesus Christ.

 

"A member of the very large finch family, the European goldfinch (Carduelis carduelis) is one of the seven or eight species of goldfinches. It prefers open country with hedgerows. A common soul symbol, the gentle goldfinch appears sometimes perched on the hand of the Christ child. The depiction may stem from the legend that the bird drew a thorn from Christ's crown on the road to Calvary (Tresidder 93). The red feathers on the side of the bird's head are said to have become stained with the Savior's blood. As a symbol of the Passion of Christ, the bird appears in countless devotional paintings. The goldfinch was also associated with Saint Jerome, since as reported in the Golden Legend, the saint's purity and intense meditation on Christ's passion led to his "being tinged by [Christ's] blood." Goldfinches appear in Jerome paintings by Altdorfer, Carpaccio, Joos van Cleve (workshop), Dürer, and others (Friedmann 220)."

 

WERNESS, H. B. (2006). Continuum Encyclopedia of Animal Symbolism in World Art. The Continuum International Publishing Group Ltd: London. 198

 

 

 

Rose:

 

Summary: Symbol of God's love and Christ's blood.

 

"The rose and lily are among the most frequently found symbolic flowers in medieval art, both associated especially with Mary. Red roses also symbolize the blood of *Christ and the martyrs. Garlands of roses may be worn by the blessed in *heaven... The lover's quest for the symbolic rose is the theme of the lengthy allegorical work of the thirteenth century: the Roman de la Rose (see: *Guillaume de Lorris and Jean de Meun), and the rose is also used by *Dante (in the Commedia) as a symbol of God's love."

 

ROSS, L. (1996). Medieval Art: A Topical Dictionary. Greenwood Press: West Port, USA. 90.

 

 

 

Tulip:

 

Summary: Symbol of wealth and hope.

 

"Tulips are associated with Holland, but the flower and its name originated in the Ottoman Empire. They were called tulipan after the word tulbend, meaning "turban." In the early 17th-century Europe, "tulipmania" took hold and the wealthy traded bulbs like stocks and shares. The tulip as a status symbol was then used extensively as a decorative motif in wealthy homes. In early 20th-century America, the tulip became a symbol of hope and post-war wealth, and this prosperous-looking flower is often chosen as a logo for financial institutions."

 

GAUDING, M. (2009). The Signs and Symbols Bible. Sterling Publishing Co. Inc.: New York. 302.