Symbols as shorthand
A symbol in medieval art is an object, color, number or creature that stands for something beyond itself. Because many viewers shared the same religious stories and sermon imagery, a small detail could carry a large message. This article is a short catalog of the most common cases. It comes with a warning that a symbol’s meaning was rarely fixed: context, region, period and the artist’s purpose all mattered, and modern readers sometimes over-read details.
Colors
Color meanings were not a strict code, but some associations recur.
- Gold suggests heavenly light and divine presence, which is why holy backgrounds are often gilded.
- Blue was costly when made from lapis lazuli, and from the later Middle Ages it was often chosen for the Virgin’s robe, an honor as much as a symbol.
- Red can point to blood, martyrdom, charity or royal and cardinal rank.
- White commonly signals purity or joy, for example in angels’ garments and baptism scenes.
- Black can indicate mourning, humility (as in some monastic habits) or evil, depending on the setting.
- Green sometimes links to growth and hope, though it can also be a color for devils or poison in some contexts.
The price and availability of pigments and dyes affected choices, and clothes in art also reflected real rules and habits about dress and status, so a color may sometimes record social rank rather than a theological message.
Animals and creatures
- The lamb stands for Christ as sacrificial offering, often holding a banner of victory.
- The dove represents the Holy Spirit, as in the Annunciation and Baptism.
- The lion has mixed meanings: strength and kingship, but also, in some texts, danger or the devil. It is also the attribute of Mark.
- The pelican was believed to feed its young with its own blood and came to represent Christ’s sacrifice.
- The serpent is temptation, evil, and sometimes shown underfoot to show victory over sin.
- The dog often signals loyalty; in other settings it may be simply a pet or hunter.
- The ox, eagle and winged man or angel accompany the four evangelists (Luke, John and Matthew, with the lion for Mark).
Animals could be read in more than one way, which is explored further in the discussion of bestiaries and allegory.
Numbers
Numbers carried meaning because scripture and teaching often grouped things in sets.
- Three evokes the Trinity, as in three-part compositions and three-faced or three-circled designs, a theme tied to the doctrine of the Trinity.
- Four links the evangelists, the rivers of Eden, and the four elements of the natural world.
- Seven appears in the seven virtues, the deadly sins, and the sacraments, among other groups.
- Twelve recalls the apostles and the tribes of Israel.
- Forty is associated with periods of trial or preparation, like Lent.
Scholars often point out that numbers could organize compositions, though readers should be cautious about assuming every set of figures was meant to be counted.
Saints’ attributes
Saints were often identified by objects tied to their stories. Peter carries keys, from the passage about the keys of the kingdom. Paul is shown with a sword and a book. Catherine of Alexandria stands with a wheel, associated with her legend, and Lawrence is shown with a gridiron. Barbara holds a tower, and Agnes is often accompanied by a lamb. Apostles and martyrs frequently hold the instrument of their death. Evangelists usually hold books. When a figure’s face means little to a viewer, these objects work like labels, and they allowed artists to depict many saints without inscriptions.
Because lives of saints were retold and varied, details of attributes sometimes differ by region. A saint may also carry more than one object, and not every association is firm.
Other common signs
A halo marks sanctity, and a cross inside the halo points to Christ. A book signals scripture or learning. A lily often suggests purity, especially in Annunciation scenes, and a skull recalls mortality. A ladder, tree or mountain may stand for ascent or the cross. The wheel of Fortune is a famous secular-and-moral symbol, a turning wheel to which people cling as their luck rises and falls.
How viewers learned to read them
Most people learned symbols through repetition. They saw the same lamb, keys and wheel in churches, windows and processions, and heard sermons that explained them. Educated viewers could also draw on texts such as commentaries on scripture, collections of saints’ lives and encyclopedic works. Lay audiences did not need all the references to grasp the main point.
Reading cautiously today
The most dependable approach is to start with the commonest meaning, check the surrounding scene and look for similar examples from the same time and place. Hidden meanings certainly exist in some works, but a plain reading is often right. Treat claims of elaborate secret codes in a single image with skepticism unless there is solid evidence.