The Symbolism of Yellow in Painting the Apostlesjwr47

IntroIn the Middle Age the illiterate classes did read their Bible not by common reading letters butinstead by interpreting symbols such as:

the sacred colors red & blue for Jesus, St. John and St. Mary the purse and/or isolation for the traitor Judas Iscariot the colors for traitors (yellow for Judas respectively St. Peter or green for Thomas) the colors yellow for gold for St. Peter

Red & blue have been considered sacred for their reference in Exodus and Chronicles. I had studiedthese topics in several essays such as Archaic Fetishism, Color Codings in the Last Supper(Overview), Color Coding in the Last Supper (by Leonardo Da Vinci), Yellow for Judas and Yellowfor Saint Peter and The Hermetic Codex II.

In this phase I decided to study El Greco's Pentecost and the identification of the Apostles,including the assignment of the yellow garment for the male protagonists.

ExamplesObvious samples for color symbolism have been given by:

Philippe de Champaigne in the The Last Supper (1648) (Judas in yellow with a purse, seatedapart from the disciples).

Philippe de Champaigne in The Marriage of the Virgin (the pregnant St. Mary in red & blue,her future husband in a yellow garment).

The masters of symbolism painting are to be recognized by their subtle usage of symbols withoutbecoming too obvious. Giotto in the fresco titled Kiss of Judas, in one of the panels in the ScrovegniChapel (1305), may have been using yellow too abundant.

That may be seen as a matter of taste in case the painter had been free to choose his colors. Most ofthe medieval paintings may have been described and ordered in detail by the paying customers.Conventions may have been common knowledge in the medieval eras.

The twelve apostlesThe twelve apostles of course had been Simon , Andrew , James , John , Philip , Bartholomew ,Thomas , Matthew ("the tax collector") , James , Thaddaeus , Simon , and Judas Iscariot .

ReplacementsIn studying the topic I found the following complication for identifying Judas, who may have beenreplaced by another person (Matthias):

Between the ascension of Christ and the day of Pentecost, the remaining apostleselected a twelfth apostle by casting lots, a traditional Israelite way to determine the Willof God. (see Proverbs 16:33) The lot fell upon Matthias.

This is one of several verses used by the Orthodox Churches (including Catholic,Anglican, and Eastern Orthodox Churches) in support of their teaching of apostolicsuccession. 1

The replacement had been performed before the descent of the Holy Spirit,

Matthias according to the Acts of the Apostles, was the apostle chosen by the believersto replace Judas Iscariot following Judas' betrayal of Jesus and suicide.[2] His calling asan apostle is unique in that his appointment was not made personally by Jesus, who hadalready ascended into heaven, and, it was made before the descent of the Holy Spiritupon the early Church. 2

Judas in the Gallery of the ApostlesJudas in Gallery of the Apostles, Temmenhausen Nikolauskirche had been painted yellow and blue,whereas Matthias (probably3) had been painted red, blue and white.

1 Source: "Apostle" 2 Source Matthias3 The color red may have been misinterpreted...

1: Matthias & Judas in the Gallery of the Apostles,Temmenhausen Nikolauskirche (from Judas - public

domain)

2: Detail of Gallery of the Apostles, Temmenhausen Nikolauskirche (from: Judas - publicdomain)

The Pentecost painting by El GrecoOf course El Greco had been fully aware of the color symbolism for yellow, red & blue in hismasterpiece The Pentecost.

All 15 persons have been supplied with a flame. This requirement had been set up by the Bible andmay also have been preset by the ordering customer Doa Mara de ragon.

All flames have been positioned directly above the persons' heads, but it must be noted that thecentral bearded man dressed in yellow does not have his own flame directly above his head. Hisflame seems to slightly have been positioned behind his young neighbor next to him at the rightside and the flame might also be assignable to an invisible person in the background.

If required El Greco might have painted the flame more to the left, which would have assigned theflame to the bearded man.

El Greco seems to purposely had left the choice of identifying the bearded man in yellow as JudasIscariot, Matthias or another apostle. The yellow robe suggests to consider a traitor. However aflame has to be assigned to a visible or invisible person.

The bearded aged man also suggests to refer to St. Peter as the most prominent apostle.

3: The problem of assigning the flame to the bearded man in yellow(in El Greco's Pentecost) - Creative Commons License

The bearded man clearly does not observe the inspiring dove at the sky. Instead he seems to be theonly attendant who feels upset by the procedure and concentrates on St. Mary and another man (ingreen garment) next to El Greco himself.

Only four persons are not concentrating on the inspiring dove at the sky:the bearded man in ayellow garment, and the women and two men to the right of St. Mary. One of these men had beenidentified as El Greco. The other man, who is communicating with the man dressed in yellow, ispainted in green.

The Pentecost has been composed by 12 men (probably the 12 apostles) and 3 women (including St.Mary).

The artist places the Virgin, together with another of the three Maries (perhaps Mary themother of James, or Mary Magdalen) at the centre of his composition. Many Counter-Reformation thinkers favoured a rather more inclusive reading of the Pentecost story thanthat favoured during the Middle Ages and Renaissance, when it was believed that the HolySpirit had descended only to the immediate, male disciples of Jesus. This was based on apassage in the preceding narrative in Acts 1: 13-14, where it is stated that the Apostles wereconstantly at prayer together, and with them a group of women, including Mary, the motherof Jesus.4

El Greco paints that same spiritual world and in the Pentecost he finds what is perhaps, itsmost succinct expression. Visited by the miraculous flames of the holy Spirit, the Apostlesthemselves seem to turn flame-like, their bodies flickering and twisting and aspiringheavenwards.

Turning to face the viewer, El Greco includes himself in the scene, as the second apostlefrom the right in the top row of faces. He seeks not to depict the miracle but somehow toincarnate it, through art. Shapes shimmer and dissolve, colours crackle like sacred lightning.

4 Archives: ITP 263: Pentecost by El Greco

Fig. 4: Detail of The Pentecost by El Greco (ca. 1600, Creative Commons License )

Painting itself turns immaterial, not so much pigment on canvas as spirit made visible5.

The apostles also include St. Peter, who had been accused from denying Jesus in the Garden ofGethsemane. Of course The Madonna in the center has been dressed in a traditional red & blue.

St. Peter had been the most prominent of the twelve apostles and probably El Greco had chosen theleader of the disciples as the main antipodal element towards St. Mary in red & blue. This may alsohave been the order as given by the customer Doa Mara de ragon or her advisers.

Analyzing Saint Peter and Saint Paul (El Greco) The painting Saint Peter and Saint Paul (El Greco) may allow us to identify the bearded man inyellow in El Greco's Pentecost:

The central theme of this picture is the meeting of the two Apostles Peter and Paul, who had been in disagreement. This is hinted at in the greeting with their hands, which cross without actually touching. An ageing, weary Peter seems to make a gesture of surrender or recognition towards Paul, who proudly holds his attribute, the sword6.

The portrait of St. Peter also matches another person in Saint Peter and Saint Paul (El Greco) in themuseum Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona, Spain.

Therefore the bearded man in yellow in Pentecost may be identified as St. Peter. His yellowgarment may symbolize his denial, although we do not really know the artist's or Doa Mara deragon's intention.

The other man (dressed in green and much younger than the bearded man in yellow), who islooking St. Peter in his eyes, may be confused with St. Paul, although St. Paul is not included in theofficial list of the apostles.

And indeed El Greco did paint St. Paul with another hairstyle, which may be compared with thepainting Pentecost. Obviously both men are communicating by gestures. In contrast El Greco iscommunicating to the observer of the painting.

5 Archives: ITP 263: Pentecost by El Greco6 Saint Peter and Saint Paul (El Greco)

6: Saint Peter and Saint Paul (ElGreco) dated 1590-1600

5: The problem of assigning the flameto the bearded man in yellow (in El

Greco's Pentecost) - CreativeCommons License Completion Date:

c.1596

7: Man in green and El Greco (inEl Greco's Pentecost) - CreativeCommons License Completion

Date: c.1596

The twelve apostles by El GrecoInvestigating the matter I found another source why a Cretan painter may have added St. Paul to thePentecost painting.

El Greco painted several series in which Christ and the Apostles appear as separate images(Apostolados), including the Apostle St. Paul, who looks quite similar:

Although not one of the original twelve whom Christ chose to be his closest followers, Paul becamethe 'Apostles of the Gentiles' following his dramatic conversion on the road to Damascus, foundingChristian communities in many places, including Crete. He appears in all of El Greco'sApostolados, in place of St Matthias, the Apostle chosen after Christ's ascension to replace Judas.

In this painting El Greco shows St Paul with a sword, the instrument of his martyrdom, and a letterinscribed in cursive Greek "To Titus, ordained first bishop of the church of the Cretans'.

8: Apostle St. Paul by El Greco

9: Apostolados by El Greco, in which St. Paul is included

St Paul appears a great number of times in El Greco's oeuvre and he is depicted with remarkableconsistency. The saint is always shown slightly balding, with dark hair and beard, wearing a redmantle thrown over a blue or green tunic.

An earlier version of this composition from about 1604 is in the City Art Museum, St Louis.

ConclusionIn El Greco's Pentecost St. Peter and St. Paul seem to have been grouped as the male antagonistsaround St. Mary and are communicating by gestures. These details may either have been chosen bythe artist or ordered by the customer Doa Mara de ragon or her advisers.

St. Peter's appearance has remained remarkably constant in art and he is the most immediatelyrecognizable of the apostles. He is an old but vigorous man, with short grey curly hair, balding ortonsured, and a short, usually curly beard, and with broad, rustic features. He commonly wears ayellow (gold) cloak over a blue, or sometimes green, tunic. In this case the color yellow may either symbolize gold as a reverence for St. Peter or a traitor'ssymbol for denying Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane.

St. Paul appears in all of El Greco's Apostolados, in place of St Matthias, the Apostle chosen afterChrist's ascension to replace Judas. The saint is always shown slightly balding, with dark hair andbeard, wearing a red mantle thrown over a blue or green tunic.Apostle St Thomas, called 'Didymus' (twin), popularly known as 'doubting Thomas' may also havebeen depicted instead of St. Paul. However if Paul always is to be included in El Greco'sApostolados he should be a prominent symbol. The gestures between Peter and Paul suggest theyare communicating the Pentecost's impact for religion.

El Greco is communicating to the observer and suggests the question: Did you understand whatthis painting is revealing?.

ContentsIntro..................................................................................................................................................1

Examples.....................................................................................................................................1The twelve apostles..........................................................................................................................1

Replacements..............................................................................................................................1Judas in the Gallery of the Apostles.................................................................................................2The Pentecost painting by El Greco................................................................................................4Analyzing Saint Peter and Saint Paul (El Greco) ...........................................................................6The twelve apostles by El Greco.....................................................................................................7Conclusion.......................................................................................................................................8

IntroExamples

The twelve apostlesReplacements

Judas in the Gallery of the ApostlesThe Pentecost painting by El GrecoAnalyzing Saint Peter and Saint Paul (El Greco)The twelve apostles by El GrecoConclusion