Saint’s Haloes and Mouse’s Ears Part IV

SAINT’S HALOES AND MOUSE’S EARS PART IV

Or Northern Lights, Baroque Solutions and Back To The Future

Painters of the Northern Renaissance for the most part seemed to have continued as before or simply dropped haloes altogether, rather than trying to adapt them to changing tastes and incorporate them into a perspective-oriented pictural system. With the exception of a handful of artists, nimbi or aureoles seem to be preferred to manhandling cumbersome discs into position.

The Van Eycks, Hans Memling, Petrus Christus, Dietrich Bouts, Rogier Van Der Weyden, Gérard David and others seem have painted few haloes or none at all.

 

A. Virgin and Child before a Firescreen, c.1430. Flemish painter Robert Campin (also known as the Master of Flémalle, b. ca. 1375, Valenciennes, d. 1444, Tournai), who otherwise painted largely flat and often bejewelled or decorated haloes when he did include them, eschews the halo altogether in this case, replacing it with a woven firescreen. The tiny flame peeking over the screen is most probably a reminder of Pentecost.
B. This Holy Family with the Child St John by German painter Hans Burgkmair (b. 1473, Augsburg, d. 1531, Augsburg), with transparent ornamented haloes is something of an exception.
C. Transfiguration of Christ, Gérard David, 1520. Flemish painter Gérard David (b. 1460, Oudewater, d. 1523, Brugge) chooses to paint a soft halo of light on this representation of Christ.
D. Last Judgement, Jan Van Eyck, 425-30. Rainbow-like haloes for all. Christ has a glowing halow filled with fine golden rays, as well as nimbed hands and feet.
E. The Braque Triptych, by Rogier van der Weyden, c. 1450
F. Matthias Grünewald paints a solar star-trimmed nimbus that nearly fills the panel in the Ressurection scene from the Issenheim Retable (1512-1516). This is not only a spiritual light, but a holy blinding spotlight, so intense that one of the soldiers shields his eyes. The inner light of holiness, so restrained in earlier depictions, has given way to the painter’s delighting himself in a high-voltage light-show. (As proof that generalizations are always erroneous, the same Grünewald depicts Saint Erasmus and Saint Maurice with classical medieval haloes c. 1523-25.)
G. Grünewald, who paints his remarkable Crucifixion devoid of any light except the penumbra of despair, indulges in equally remarkable lighting effects elsewhere in the Issenheim Retable. Scene of the Nativity.
H. The Nativity (detail). The face of the young woman seems to be alight.
I. The Nativity (detail). God the Father rides a saintly stormcloud.
J. The Nativity (detail). Soft circlets of light for Mary and the Christ child.
K. Albrecht Altdorfer, on the other hand, opts for a particulary bright nimbus of golden rays. Resurrection of Christ, 1516. Christ’s halo is positively meteorological, a divine concentration of the roiling clouds in the sky behind. To see the elements and the landscape enrolled in the action, so to speak, to use natural phenomena to enhance the drama, is an innovation of the Renaissance north of the Alps. The use of light in Renaissance Italy is remarkably tame for a country with such strong directional light. Chiaroscuro would only really appear as a standard technique (and a word in the disctionary) with the shift of values to Baroque.
L. Saint John at Patmos, Hans Burgkmair, 1518.
M. Madonna, from the Stuppach Altar, Matthias Grünewald, 1517-19. The Virgin has an ample halo of light, itself framed by a rainbow.

 

Other artists opt for nimbi of rays.
A. The Petites Heures du Duc de Berry, Ressurection, 1380’s
B. Last Judgement, Jan Van Eyck, Last Judgement. Very meteorological haloes for all concerned. It’s tempting to imagine van Eyck having observed haloes around the sun on a foggy day, although it is possible he had rainbows in mind. (What one wouldn’t give to be a fly on the wall of his studio…)
C. Nativity, Master Francke, 1424
D. Circumcision of Christ, Jacques Daret, c. 1435.
E. The Visitation, Jacques Daret, c. 1434-35.
F. The Pietà of Villeneuve-lès-Avignon.Enguerrand Quarton or Charonton, c. 1460. The painter has chosen to place Christ’s head in an aura of golden rays, depite the prickly problem of fitting fingers between them as though through so many spokes. The other figures, with the exception of the clerical donor, have classical flat haloes with their names inscribed, somewhat lost against the gilded sky.
G. Detail of Christ’s head.
H. Nimbi for Christ and his mother in Gérard David’s The Marriage at Cana, c.1500. Christ’s nimbus of rays is decidely cardinal.
I. Presentation at the Temple, Hans Holbein, 1500-01.
J. Annunciation, Gérard David, 1520.
K. Ressurection, Holbein.
L. The Agony in the Garden, Hans Holbein, 1505.
M. Lamentaiton of the Dead Christ, the Hapsburg Master, 1520
N. Mary with the Child, Albrecht Altdorfer, 1520-25.
O. The Ghent Altarpiece or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb, Hubert and Jan Van Eyck, completed in 1432. God or Jesus (there is some debate as to the exact identity.)
P. The Ghent Altarpiece or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. The Virgin Mary
Q. The Ghent Altarpiece or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb. Saint John the Baptist. The Ghent Altarpiece (or Adoration of the Mystic Lamb), by Hubert and Jan van Eyck, was completed in 1432. Commissioned by a wealthy merchant, the altarpiece was begun by Hubert van Eyck, but still unfinished upon his death in 1426. His younger brother Jan completed the altarpiece in 1432. All three figures have haloes of rays of varying lengths with a central symmetry.

 

Tyrolean painter Michael PACHER (b. ca. 1435, Bruneck, d. 1498, Salzburg) makes no such radical leap. At best he accommodates his traditional haloes to a three-dimensional and rather wooden treatment, and that with a remarkable consistency for nearly four decades.
A. Saint Catherine, 1465-70, has the most ordinary of haloes tucked away behind her crown
B. Annunciation, 1465-70, both Mary and the angel have very solid golden discs
C. St. Lawrence Distributing the Alms, 1465-70.
D. Flight From Egypt, 1479-81
E. Christ and the Adulteress, 1479-81
F. The Ressurrection of Lazarus, 1479-81, presents a festival of variously canted haloes
G. In this Puricifation of the Temple, 1479-92, Christ has a nicely rendered three-dimensional (if face-on) model.
H. Saint Jerome, from the Altarpiece of the Church Fathers, c. 1483. Saints Ambrose, Augustine, and Pope Gregory I are also represented. Given their impressive hats, bejewelled mitres and towering tiaras, the haloes are discrete and flat.
I. Not so with St Augustine Liberating a Prisoner, c. 1483, who appears as if he has a wooden plate affixed to the rear of his mitre.
J. The effect is even more unsettling with the Vision of St Sigisbert, also c. 1483
K. Similar treatment for Saint Wolfgang and the Devil. (Pacher certainly applied his imagination to the devil, though, who is a venomous green, with antlers, beautiful dragon-like wings, flames coming out of his ears and a leering face gracing his bottom.)
L. Traditional halo for this Flagellation, 1495-98.
M. A return to fully medieval haloes for the Engagement of Virgin, also 1495-98.
N. The Birth of the Virgin Mary by the Workshop of Michael Pacher, dated 1498, while all the trappings are pure Northern Renaissance, the baby Virgin’s halo is a traditional solid gold shallow plate.

If Michael Pacher is atypical with his wooden haloes, Flemish painter Jan Provoost (1462/5, Mons–January 1529, Bruges)  is another departure from the common treatment.

 

Left:
A.  Madonna with child, early 16th century
B.  Virgin and Child, 1495-1500
C.  Madonna enthroned with Saint John the Baptist and a kneeling Carthusian monk, 1500-1510. Singular golden circlets, as if the perimeter of a gilded halo was traced in gold, but not filled in.
D. Flagellation, 1510-15. Provoost abandons the standard halo, retaining only the foliate cross.
E. Crucifixion, 1510-15.
F. Lamentation, 1510-15.
G – J. Virgin and Child with saints & donors, 1520-29. More haloes of the same type. The effect is unlike any other painter of the northern Renaissance.
K. Ressurection, early 16th century. Christ has only the foliate cross of his halo.
L. Madonna and Child, late 15th or early 16th century. A halo of rays.
M. Madonna and Child, late 15th or early 16th century.
N & O. The Annunciate Virgin, Saint Andrew with a Donor and His Sons, Saint Catherine of Alexandria with a Donor and Her Daughters, and the Annunciate Angel, early 16th century.
P. The Coronation of the Virgin, 1524.
Q. Donor with St Nicholas and his Wife with St Godelina, late 15th century.

Right:
Christian Allegory, c. 1510, oil on panel, 50.5 x 40 cm, Paris, Musee du Louvre
Original title: ‘Allegorie Chretienne (Le Cosmos sous l’oeil et dans la main de Dieu en présence du Christ-Juge et de l’Église)’. It is a curious and rather audacious attempt to reconcile scientific and religious concepts. (Not that this had not been going on for some time, non déplaise to those who hold medieval man thought the Earth was flat. In the hundreds, if not thousands, of images of Christ, God or various Popes holding a terrestrial globe, it is undeniably a globe, not a platter or a pizza. On the other hand, Provoost has shown a Ptolemeian disposition for the Sun, Earth and Moon. The following century would see hundreds of such allegories, created for wealthy patrons such as Rudolph II of Hapsburg, the Holy Roamn Emporer, a time when Prague was home to a quixotic assembly of the most colourful characters dabbling in all the arts, dark, fine and alchemical.)

There is of course no cut-off date, and painters continue to create elaborate haloes in the late 1400’s and early 1500’s. (Tracing the evolution of a particular allegorical figure through different periods would ideally mean separating the sequences into schools, workshops or countries.) Here is a little stroll in company of Saint Michael Archangel, from the 13th century to the 17th.

 

Left:
A. Panel of Saint Michael, Master of Soriguerola, c.1200. (Note the blue haloes.)
B. Saint Michael, Simone Martini, 1320-25
C. Saint Michael, Guarentio d’Arpo, 1350.
D. Saint Michael and the Dragon, Unknown Spanish (Valencian) Painter, 1400-25
E. Saint Michael Weighing Souls, Jaime Baço Jacomart (b. 1411, Valencia, d. 1461, Valencia)
F. The Très Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, the Limbourg Brothers, 1412-16
G. Saint Michael, Fra Angelico, 1424-25
H. The Last Judgement, Rogier van der Weyden, 1443-46
I Saint Michael Battles the Dragon, from the Hours of Etienne Chevalier, Jean Fouquet, c. 1453- 1460.
J. Archangel Michael by Francesco Pagano, second half of the 15th centuryK. Saint Michael, Jaume Huguet, 1465
L. Saint Michael Battling the Army of Lucifer, Lieven van Lathem, 1469
M. Archangel Michael, by Piero della Francesca, 1469

Right:
A. Altarpiece of St Michael, Gérard David (c. 1460, Oudewater – August 13th 1523, Bruges) late 15th century.
B. St Michael Fighting Demons, Master of the Legend of St Ursula, 1480-1500.
C.  Archangel Michael painted by Juan de la Abadia around 1490.  This Spanish painting has a pronounced traditonal halo, in contrast to the Michael of the same period by Francesco Pagano, who has a tiny crown topped by a cross and a traces in the sky around his head one is tempted to put down to pentimento. The arming hose with the chain mail skirts on the knees is very much of the times. Indeed, Saints George and Michael could happily tread the catwalk for a fashion show of armour through the ages.)
D. Saint Michael, Josse Lieferinxe, late 15th-early 16th century.
E. Saint Michael, Albrecht Dürer, 1496-98.
F. Michael Battling Lucifer, Hans Leu the Elder, 1500
G. Saint Michael, Pietro Perugino, 1500.
H. The Archangel Michael Slaying the Dragon, by Raphael, 1505
I. Saints Michael and Francis,  Juan de Flandes, 1505-09
J. Saint Michael, Raphael, 1518.
K. Saint Michael, Angelo Bronzino, 1540-41
L. Saint Michael, Pietro Perugino c. 1496-1500.
M. Saint Michael Defends the Island of Procida from the Saracens, Nicola Russo, 1690.

It is difficult to make out a pattern of the shift from predominance of haloes through their different renderings and subsequent abandon in the grand movements and centres in the Europe north of the Alps. Flat gilded discs share the stage with other and more subtle treatments until the end of the 16th century. Many artists depict their Biblical characters either with or without haloes.
Here is a glimpse of the variety of treatments.

 

Left:
A. Adoration, Master of the Polling Panels, German, 1444. A nebulous transparent circular halo for the Virgin Mary, praying before a Christ Child enveloped in a nimbus of rays. Joseph, who is in the background (the image has been cropped), has no halo.
B. Man of Sorrows, Petrus Christus, 1444-46. Petrus Christus retains only the florid cross, giving it a gothic air, almost like fine ironwork in its solidity.
C. Christ Carrying the Cross, Master Thomas de Coloswar, 1427. Christ and the two visible Marys have classical gilded crosses in the scene, in a style reminiscent of the “International Gothic” of a century earlier.
D.  Virgin and Child in an Interior, Jacques Daret, circa 1435. The Netherlandish painter (b. ca. 1404, Tournai, d. 1470) prefers a halo or rays for the Virgin; the Child’s rays are in the form of a cross.
E.  Vir Dolorum, Master Franke, circa 1430. Active in Hamburg in the early 15th century, Master Francke paints an aureole of rays on his Man of Sorrows, with three foliated rays forming each an arm of a cross.
F. Noli me Tangere, MASTER of the Aix Annunciation, 1443-45. A typical medieval halo for this Christ.
G & H.  More medieval haloes from MASTER of the Wenemaer Triptych, first half of the 15th century. (The other panel of the triptych also features the same style of halo.)
I. Man of Sorrows, Master E.S., circa 1460. Active from 1450 to 1467 in the area of the Upper Rhine, the engraver known as Master E. S. (from his signature) gives Christ an oval halo with a cross.
J. A similar halo is painted by Austrian painter Friedrich Pacher (active 1470-80) in this Christ in Limbo, from the 1460’s.
K. Christ Crowned with Thorns, circa 1470. Flemish painter Deiric Bouts, (c. 1415-1475) opts for a haloed gold ground of concentric zones for this portrait of Christ.
L. Annunciation, Master of Liesborn Annunciation, 1470-80. Very old-fashioned halo for this Virgin Mary, who otherwise displays all the trappings of the Northern Renaissance.
M. Saint Bernard’s Vision of the Virgin and Child, Simon Marmion, 1475-80. Possibly motivated by the desire to include at least a small amount of gilding as an element of preciosity, illuminators seem to have held to simple gilded haloes for much of the 15th and even into the 16th centuries. This fine transparent halo is something of an exception for the period.
N. Ressurection, Viet Stoss, 1477-89. German sculptor Viet Stoss (c. 1438-1533) chooses to put eight long rays behind the head of his Christ in the depiction of the Resurrection.

Centre:
A. Madonna, Martin Schongauer, late 15th century.
B. Noli Me Tangere, Martin Schongauer, 1462-65.
C. Annunciation, Martin Schongauer,  1460-1470.
D. Saint Michael Weighing Souls, Master Kartner, 1480.
E. Crucifixion, MASTER of Jánosrét, circa 1480
F & G.  Man of Sorrows diptych, Simon Marmion, 1480-90. Simon Marmion abandons haloes altogether in favour of a stippled golden ground.
H. Madonna and Child Adored by Angels,  Master of Moulins, circa 1490. Aura and double circlet of gold.
I.  Madonna and Child, Master of the Aix-en-Chapel Altarpiece, 1490-1500.
J. Presentation of the Virgin at the temple, Nicolas Dipre, 1500. Circlets reminiscent of those painted by Provoost.
K. Christ as Salvator Mundi,  follower of Simon Bening, 1500-25.
L. Beautiful Mary, Albrecht Altdorfer, early 16th century. Luminous aureoles superimposed on a mandorla, the Christ Child retains a florid cross in his halo.
M. The Holy Family, Berhhard Strigel, 1505. Flat medieval haloes for the Virgin and Child, Jospeh, busy in his workshop, seems to have none.
N. Gérard David employs a very similar nimbus to those painted on the Ghent Altarpiece by the Van Eyck brothers nearly 80 years before on this God the Father Blessing painted in 1506.
O. Trinity and Mystic Pieta, Hans Baldung Grien, 1512. Flat gilded haloes.
P. Nativity, Gérard Horenbout, 1517.  Flemish painter Gérard Horenbout (b. ca. 1465, Ghent, d. ca. 1541, London) makes the Christ Child the principal source of light for the scene in this Nativity, with the dramatic underlighting of the topmost angel being remarkable in manuscript illumination for the period (although admittedly the Limbourg brothers had done similar work nearly a century before). However, old habits die hard, and the oval nimbus of golden rays in such a realistic setting is awkward at best.

Right:
A. Annunciation to Saint Anne and Saint Joachim, Bernhard Strigel, early 16th century. Bernhard Strigel (c. 1461 – 1528) depicts a rather aggressive-looking angel (with a lovely speech scroll) adressing Anne, who has a two-dimensional double circlet of gold.
B. Christ Before Pilate, Master of Cappenberg, 1520. A very medieval halo in a Renaissance setting.
C. The Coronation of the Virgin, Master of Cappenberg, circa 1520.
D. Transfiguration of Christ, Gérard David, 1520.
E. Resurrection of Christ, Albrecht Altdorfer, 1527.
F. Adoration of the Magi, Simon Bening, 1525 – 1530
G.  Virgin and Child Enthroned, workshop of Pieter Coecke van Aeist, 1527-50. The halo is replaced by an architectural detail.
H. Christ on the cross with Carthusian Saints, Anton Woensam von Worms, 1535. The holy figures have three-dimensional circlets of gold, Christ on his cross has a foliate cross of rays.
I. The Flight from Egypt, follower of Joachim Patinir, 1550-75. Tiny figures in a beautiful landscape typical of patinier and his followers, the fleeing Joseph has a circlet of gold and his wife Mary a three-dimensional golden disc.
J. Nativity, Marten de Vos, 1577.
K. The Family of Saint Anne, Marten de Vos, 1585. Treated in the Mannerist style popular in Italy Antwerp painter Marten de Vos (1532–1603) nevertheless maintains circlets of gold on his holy figures.
L. The Mystic Marriage of Saint Catherine, Denys Calvaert, circa 1590. Calvaert maintains a hint of haloes in a treatment bordering Baroque frivolity.
M. St. Luke painting the Virgin Mary, Marten de Vos, 1602.
N. Flemish painter Pieter Coecke van Aelst (August 14, 1502 – December 6, 1550) abandons haloes altogether, opting for more celestial light, in this Holy Trinity from the 1540’s.
O. St James the Great in the Battle of Clavijo, Juan Carreno de Miranda, 1660.

South and west of the Pyrenees, in Spain and Portugal, the practice of medieval haloes seems to have carried on much farther than in the rest of Europe, with a few specialities that are purely Iberian.

 

Left:
A.  Madonna and Child with Angels Playing Music, Juan de sevilla, first half of the 15th century. Flat gilded haloes with decorated surfaces.
B.  Coronation of Mary, Master of Teruel, first half of the 15th century.
C.  Madonna with Angels Playing Music and Donor,  Master of Lanaja, 1439. Gilded haloes with overlaid with floral motifs. The cross of Christ’s halo is composed of red rays that extend beyond the border of the halo itself.
D. Nativity, Bernat Martorelli, 1440’s. Joseph’s halo is octogonal with concave sides.
E. Christ and the Samaritan Woman at Jacob’s Well,  Bernat Martorell, 1445-52. Gilded medieval haloes that seem to have been gessoed into low relief.
F. Crucifixion, Master of Riglos, 1450-60. Note the octogonal halo on the far right.
G. Adoration of the Magi, Master of the Prelate Mur, last half of the 15th century. Joseph once again has an octogonal halo.
H. Adoration of the Magi, Jaum Huguet, 1450’s. Medieval two-dimensional gilded haloes in relief.
I. Flagellation, Jaume Huguet, 1450’s. Christ has a halo with concentric circles and a cross of rays.
J. Lamentation, Jaume Huguet, 1450’s. More the octogonal haloes of the figure far right and far left.
K. Nativity, Master of Avila, 1474-76. Joseph in this image has a round halo. The Christ Child, a nimbus of rays. The artist has placed the nimbus to the rear of Mary’s dress and cloak; the result is a curious distortion of space.
L. Annunciation, Pedro de Cordoba, 1475. 

Right:
A.  Saint Lazarus between Martha and Mary, Master of the Perea Visitation, late 15th century.
B. Master of the Perea Visitation, 1480-1500.
C. Death of the Virgin, 1490s Master of La Sisla, 1490’s. The Virgin has a discrete halo of rays.
D. The Emtombment of Chris, Pedro Sanchez, 1490’s. Flat gilded medieval haloes.
E. Presentation of the Virgin in the temple, Master of Budapest, circa 1500.
F. Crucifixion, Master of Budapest, 1500. The Master of Budapest seems to have had a preference for haloes inscribed with the names of their owners.
G.  Visitation, Juan Vicente Masip , 1500-1545. Oval circlets of gold.
H. Annunciation, Juan de Flandes, 1508-09.
I. Detail.
J. Adoration of shepherds, Rodrigo de Osona the Younger, 1530.  Mary’s halo is a circlet of gold with a hexagonal star of rays. Joseph has rays in the form of a hexagonal star, but no circlet. The Christ Child has a nimbus of rays forming a cross, and the attendant angels have nimbi of rays.
K. Descent from the Cross, Pedro de Campana, 1547. Elegant three-dimensional golden circlets.
L. Flight From Egypt, Bartolomé Carduco, 1600-03. In this flight from Egypt, where the fleeing Holy Family looks more like they are off for a stroll and a picnic accompanied by portly putti, the haloes are reduced to the highlights of slim circlets of gold.
M.  Dead Christ Supported by an Angel,  Alonso Cano, 1646-52.

A caveat to be included in all “research” of this kind is the fact that viewing images electronically is no substitute for the real thing, and proprietors and painters of the past were not at all squeamish about overpainting exisiting work to cater to changing tastes. This Last Supper, by Caspar Isenmann, (born in Colmar c. 1430 – died in 1484) has had John’s halo completely redone, from a gilded plate to a halo of rays of mediocre execution. The circle scored in the gesso is still visible across Jesus’ bust. Such things, while they are clear in front of the original, are not necessarily evident in a jpeg at 72 dpi on a computer screen – not that Isenmann seems to be well represented on the web anyway. (The painting is in Colmar, at the Unterlinden Museum, best known for the Issenheim Altarpiece.)

 

So what to make of the business of « Haloes Through the Ages » ? Perhaps to underline that the medieval period attached great importance to a form of spiritual realism, a realistic portrayal of the spiritual world, which could entail a suspension of the laws that we consider logical in pictorial representation. The numinous and the luminous went hand in hand, but with the invention and development of a device which lay outside the bonds of realism, given that pictural realism stood on a lower rung than spiritual representation. The Renaissance, on the other hand, is all about an idealised (or idealistic) representation of the real world, which naturally entails the establishing of all-governing systems of visual representation. This shift of priorities,  the shoehorning of multiple levels of expression into a single omnipotent one could only happen on a personal level, as personal a level as each artist has with his subject, his public, his peers and his patrons. In a pictural sense, artists swapped the syntagematic for the paradigmatic. The visual syntax obtained, while ultimately modern and coherent to our eyes, left no room for multiple levels of lecture.

Two-dimensional haloes first aquired a supplementary dimension, then slowly shed their primitive attributes one by one. Curiously, the first elements they abandoned were those of weightlessness and light, as if the painters had simply pried it off the backgound, gesso and all, and balanced it in space at an angle. In making the jump, so to speak, into the third dimension, the halo became a solid and even cumbersome accessory of sanctity.

The medieval halo, which doesn’t exist in the pictural sense, becomes, under the brushes of the Renaissance painters, no longer a symbolic reminder, but a very real element, often with unexpected effects. In some cases, the impression of density and weight is pure 24-carat; one is tempted to call out to some saints to watch out in case they bang their heads. That such hefty haloes, which are the antithesis of what they are meant to represent, should occur under the skilled brushes of so many painters is a unique combination individuality of vision and inertia of visual tradition. Only slowly does the halo lose weight and thickness, become first translucid then transparent, a circlet filled with golden dots or rays, then the most discrete twist of a compass etched faint on the background and ultimately an elegant elipse, regaining the two qualities – weightlessness and luminosity – that it had abandoned. (The luminosity is of course now firmly on the physical plane and no longer on the spiritual except by inference. Another unexpected but of course logical effect is the need to make the halo stand out, usually through a dark ground behind the wearer’s head.) The metamorphis is long and complicated, and is ultimately an elaborate detour to arrive at indicating holiness by a different means.

Finally abandoned altogether by the end of the 16th century (although painters like Rembrandt occasionally added a discrete aureole here and there), only to appear centuries later, first under the pen and brushes of William Blake (he was, though,  a rather a loner who did not inspire a movement), and then with the Pre-Raphaelites, later to be taken up by the edulcorated, consensual and regrettably uninspired Christian iconography of the 20th century. In the interim, while they still of course appear, they have lost their purely spiritual dimension and raison d’être, assuming the humble role of optional accessories tetched from the prop department. The Pre-Raphaelites treat them spiritually, and seeing those come to grips with an element that obeys few modern laws is like watching a reverse evolution from the Renaissance to the Middle Ages. Art is always a search for a form of coherence. Often the sacrifices and compromises (as well as of course the accomplishments) are not only purely pictural. Curiously, art history applauds with equal enthusiasm the instauration of the pictorial tyranny of the Renaissance and the overturning and abandonment of the same dictatorship by Modern Art. Go figure. (Or go non-figurative.)
A few Victorian and Pre-Raphaelite images :

 

Left:
A. A Virgin, Abbott Handerson Thayer.
B. The Annunciation, John William Waterhouse, 1914.
C. The Virgin the Baby Jesus and Saint John the Baptist, William Bouguereau.
D. A Madonna of Brittany, Edward Reginald Frampton,1913
E. The Virgin of the Lilies, Carlos Schwabe, 1899.
F. Ecce Ancilla Domini!, Dane Gabriel Rosetti, 1849-50
G. Madonna & Child, Marianne Stokes, 1907-08.
H. Annunciation, Marianne Stokes.
I. Annunciation, Edward Reginald Frampton, 1907-08.
J. The Madonna and Child with attendant Angels, John Melhuish Strudwick.
K. The Virgin in Paradise, Antoine-Auguste-Ernest Hebert.
L. Virgin with Corona, Odilon Redon, 1989.
M. Saint Cecilia, John Melhuish Strudwick.
N. Jeanne d’Arc, EugeneThirion, 1876.

Right:
A. An Angel, Sir Edward Burne-Jones, 1878.
B. Angel Playing a Flageolet Sir Edward Burne-Jones.
C. ‘And there was a great cry in Egypt’, Atthur Hacker, 1897.
D. Saint Bride, John Duncan, 1913.
E. Christ in the Sepulchre, Guarded by Angels, William Blake.
F. Jesus Washing Saint Peter’s Feet, Ford Madox Brown, 1865.
G. The Light of the World, Holman Hunt, 1854.
H. The Shadow of Death, William Hunt, 1870-73.
I. The Crucifixion, Franz Von Stuck.
J. Pietà, Franz von Stuck.
K. Angel, Abbott Handerson Thayer, circa 1889.
L. Stevenson Memorial, Abbott Handerson Thayer, 1903.
M. The Haloes, Louis Welden Hawkins, 1894.
N. Salomé, Franz von Stuck, 1906.

As for Mickey Mouse, his three-dimensional ears were a short-lived affair, proof that apparent incongruity is not necessarily bewildering, that the human eye and mind can accept contradictions as long as they take the form of a shared language, and that applying one visual system to the exclusion of others is not always the only course. (Besides, I imagine the animators heaved a collective sigh of relief – that much less work to be done on those pesky ears.)
Lastly, a small disclaimer:
I apologize for the unequal quality of the images, they come from many and varied sources (I also apologize for not listing my sources, but many come from the fantastically well-documentned Web Gallery of Art), and regret it was not possible to find EVERY pertinent image for each artist (although I fear I did manage to include a couple of pictures twice). I also regret having been obliged to crop images most of the time, it is frustrating not to show the full painting beside details, but the result would not have been manageable.  A serious excursion into the world of haloes, an exhaustive (and likely exhausting) listing of painters’ work,  would require much time and effort, more than warranted by a simple spare-time newsletter. Dates are transcribed as I have found them;  where conflicting dates occur, I have relied on the most plausible, though being obliged to transcribe blanket dates such as « second half of the 15th century » is a frustrating exercise. If I have committed the cardinal sin of misattribution, please forgive me and kindly supply the correct title or name, I’ll amend immediately. I’m sure I have also missed seminal paintings and important painters which would, whether they support or weaken my hypotheses, have greatly enriched the ensemble. (My only comment would be “Give me a serious grant and a year off work, and I’ll most enthusiastically do it again, but properly this time.”)

And, very lastly but certainly not leastly, thank you to my (one and only) webmaster Dominique Javet, without whose incomparable support and lasting enthusiasm this whole web site, much less these heavily illustrated newsletters, would simply not exist.

Further reading :
« The Square Halo & Other Mysteries of Western Art : Images and the Stories that Inspired Them », by Sally Fisher, Harry N. Abrams, 1995. This light-hearted and intriguing book is the perfect introduction to the complexities, subtleties (and oddities) of western religious art.
BEST WISHES FOR 2009

I was planning, what with all these haloes I’ve been gathering, to select a suitably seasonal medieval Nativity to accompany these wishes for a wonderful and fulfilling new year…. but, I couldn’t find one with snow. Suddenly it occured to me that snow isn’t a popular theme in art of the Middle Ages. Outside of a month of February in The Riches Heures du Duc de Berry, a few other scenes (even a snowball fight) in lesser manuscripts, (until the Renaissance tempest of winter scenes starting with paintings like Breughel’s “Hunters in the Snow” and continuing unabated until today), medieval snow seems to be scarce on the ground, so to speak. All of those Nativities, which take place in recognizably European landscape with European costumes and perfectly familiar oxen, cows and sheep, never seem to have snow. It’s very strange. Perhaps the painters thought it never snowed in Bethlehem, but it does on occasion. Perhaps there’s no snow in the Bible? Wrong again; there are apparently 30 references to snow. Do medieval painters ever mention snow? Cennino Cennini states that glair must be mixed until it is stiff or “converted as it were into a water-froth, or into the likeness of snow…”, but he, alas, gives no hints on how to depict snow itself.

So, no medieval snow scene with this newsletter, only my apologies for once more getting distracted and letting time run out. However, it has certainly given me the urge to conduct a bit of a survey, something like “Snow in Art Through the Ages”.

It’ll give me something to do in 2009.

On the other hand, I could make a resolution not to think about things that never occured to me before.

But that would be very boring.

Best wishes to all.

John