ARTSY
By Julia Wolkoff
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| Gerard David
The Rest on the Flight into Egypt, ca. 1512–1515
Oil on wood
20 × 17 in; 50.8 × 43.2 cm |
The meanings of red and blue as they apply to gender have their origins, as Orenstein proposed, in Christian theology. Take a close look at religious art from the past 700 years. Notice anything consistent? Mary is almost always decked out in blue, while Jesus typically wears red. Marian blue, as the shade has become known, became the Madonna’s official color with the rise of Mariology and the cult of the Virgin. Depictions of Jesus later in life, as an adult, almost always show him dressed in bright red, or vermilion, a color with many complex meanings. In Christianity, it can represent sin, hellfire, or the Devil. But it can also connote martyrdom, or the blood of Christ. [
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| Hans Memling's Triptych…
Musée du Louvre, Paris
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