Joannes Richter

Paint it Purple
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 Joannes Richter

Paint It Purple
A short History of painting Red and Blue

Published by Lulu

-2009-

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© 2009 by Joannes Richter
Published by Lulu
www.lulu.com
All Rights Reserved
ISBN: xxx-x-xxxx-xxxx-x

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Contents
Introduction..............................................................................7
4004 BC: Creation...................................................................9
2500 BC: Creation in Egypt...................................................13
530 BC: Chieftain's Grave at Hochdorf ................................15
500 BC: The Parthenon's Fries..............................................19
450 BC: Exodus and Chronicles II........................................21
333 BC: Alexander the Great ................................................22
500 Symbolism in icons.........................................................23
1240 Colour coding in medieval Bibles.................................25
1308: La Divina Commedia...................................................27
1358 The Tricolour of France................................................29
1572 The flag of the Netherlands ..........................................30
1660 Russian tricolour flag....................................................31
1814 A 15-starred banner (USA)...........................................32
1898 Flag of the Philippines..................................................33
1956 Painting by Marc Chagall ............................................34
Conclusion.............................................................................35

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List of Figures and Photographs
Fig. 1: Male Sky-God (Wiener Codex - sixth Cent.)...............10
Fig. 2: God's hand to Noah (Wiener Codex - 6th Cent.)..........12
Fig. 3: Nut as the expanse of the sky.......................................13
Fig. 4: The Celtic burial tomb at Hochdorf .............................15
Fig. 5: Dead body found wrapped in red and blue towels.......16
Fig. 6: Reconstructed Celtic loom with red & blue weaving...17
Fig. 7: Reconstructed red and blue weaving...........................18
Fig. 8: Red/blue-colours at the Acropolis temple....................19
Fig. 9: Red/blue-colours at the Acropolis temple....................20
Fig 10: Our Lady of Czestochowa...........................................23
Fig 11: Medieval icon..............................................................24
Fig 12: Genesis-line in the Korczek-Bible (1400)...................25
Fig 13: Backgrounds in Goslar Evangelium-1240 AD............25
Fig 14: Initials in Ancient History (14th Century)...................26
Fig 15: La Divina Commedia..................................................27
Fig 16: The Tricolour of France (1358)...................................29
Fig 17: Flag of the Netherlands (1572)....................................30
Fig 18: Russian flag (1660).....................................................31
Fig 19: Indiana Mason Flag.....................................................32
Fig 20: 15-starred banner over Fort McHenry (1814).............32
Fig 21: Flag of the Philippines.................................................33
Fig 22: Androgynous face by Marc Chagall............................34

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Introduction
Religious symbols have been in use ever since the beginning of
prehistoric eras thousands of years ago. Still some symbolism
may be traced back to recent events.
This document refers to the ancient religious symbols of
primary and secondary colours, which even may have been
identified and read by illiterate citizens allowing them to
“read” the colours as letter symbols.
In the icons of Eastern Orthodoxy, and of the Early Medieval
West, very little room is made for artistic license. Almost
everything within the image has a symbolic aspect. Christ, the
saints, and the angels all have halos. Angels (and often John the
Baptist) have wings because they are messengers. Figures have
consistent facial appearances, hold attributes personal to them,
and use a few conventional poses.
A few colours play an important role: gold, purple, red, blue
and white. Jesus wears red undergarment with a blue outer
garment (God become Human) and Mary wears a blue
undergarment with a red overgarment. Letters are symbols too.
Most icons incorporate some calligraphic text naming the
person or event depicted, often presented in a stylized manner.
In later Western depictions, much of the symbolism survives,
though there is far less consistency.

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4004 BC: Creation
Most conservative groups within Christianity still follow the
estimate of Dr. John Lightfoot, a 17th century Anglican
clergyman. He estimated that creation occurred during 4004
BCE. Bishop James Ussher in the 17th century made the same
estimate a decade later by working backwards in the Bible
from the year during which Saul became King and he got
almost all the credit.

Six divine creation phases seem to correlate to splitting phases,

correlating to symbolic colours. The created objects may be
listed in the correct sequence of occurrence.

Day First mentioned Last mentioned

1 light - Day darkness - Night
2 waters under the expanse waters above the expanse
(sea – salt water) (rain – sweet water)
3 Earth Seas
4 greater light (sun-day) lesser light (moon-night)
5 waters (fishes) earth (birds)
6 man (male & female)
Table 1: Creation phases in Book Genesis

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Early biblical symbolism describes God as a man hidden in the
sky, inside the sun or in a cloud. The following image found in
the Vienna Bible from the sixth century symbolizes God as a
red-coloured man sending yellow-golden sun-rays to Joseph,
lying on his bed. The moon does contain a blue-coloured
woman with cow-horns like an Egyptian deity. The stars have
been painted like asterisks in an Egyptian grave.

Fig. 1: Male Sky-God (Wiener Codex - sixth Cent.)

God made the two great lights: the greater light to rule the
day, and the lesser light to rule the night. He also made the
stars. God set them in the expanse of sky to give light to the
earth, and to rule over the day and over the night, and to
divide the light from the darkness. God saw that it was good.
There was evening and there was morning, one day, a fourth
day.

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Traditionally the Egyptians painted the greater light (the sun)
red and the the lesser light (the moon) blue. As a remarkable
fact the night is not dark, but lighted by the lesser light (moon).

Another painting in the Vienna-codex symbolizes God as a red-

coloured hand from the sky reaching to a rainbow and sending
a signal to Noah and his relatives.

Although there a written proof seems to be missing, red and

blue are to be considered as religious symbols. Obviously the
colours may be related to the sun and the moon, which are
known as religious elements representing male and female
attributes. These symbols have been observed in the biblical
decorations as well.

The sun and moon will always be identified by opposite

genders. The Mediterranean peoples identified a male sun
(“Sol”) accompanied by a female moon (“Luna”). In Egyptian
traditional colourings the male sun has usually been displayed
by a red circle (and only in seldom cases by a yellow disc),
whereas the female moon is being attributed by blue light.

God said, “Let there be an expanse in the midst of the waters,

and let it divide the waters from the waters.” God made the
expanse, and divided the waters which were under the
expanse from the waters which were above the expanse, and it
was so. God called the expanse sky. There was evening and
there was morning, a second day.

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 Fig. 2: God's hand to Noah (Wiener Codex - 6th Cent.)

Standard colours in this section may only be understood if the

expanse may be understood as a rainbow, which reveals blue
colour at the upper border and red colours at the lower border.
The main rainbow has been a divine symbol to the ancient
people.

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2500 BC: Creation in Egypt
The raising up of Nut from the embrace of Seb represented the
first act of creation. The enormous creative powers separating
the earth from the covering waters, placing the sun in the sky
over the earth allowed the creation of gods, animals and human
beings.
Nut used to be depicted as a woman whose body is bent round
to a semi-circle. In this position she represents the sky or
heaven. Her legs and arms represent the four pillars on which
the sky was supposed to rest and marked the position of the
cardinal points.

Fig. 3: Nut as the expanse of the sky

According to one myth Nut daily gave birth to her son Ra (the
Sun-god) and passing over her star-spangled body he arrived at
her mouth, into which he disappeared, and passing through her
body he was re-born the following morning.

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An ancient painting displays Ra in his boat sailing up through
the watery abyss behind the legs of Nut, in the Atet Boat, and
sailing down the arms of the goddess in the Seket Boat into the
Tuat or Underworld. Alternatively, some ancient Egyptians
believed that Ra died as the sun would set every night. The
Mandjet barque would then turn into the Mesektet barge (the
Night-barge) that would carry Ra through the underworld back
towards the east in preparation for his rebirth at sunrise. These
myths of Ra conceptualized the sunrise as the rebirth of the sun
by the Sky goddess Nut, thus attributing the concept of rebirth
and renewal to Ra and strengthening his role as a creator god.

Ra used to be depicted with a red-coloured disc symbolizing1

the radiant sun and serpent amulets representing the "Eye of
Re" were made of red stones.
Nut played an important role in the Egyptian Underworld and
numerous passages in the Book of the Dead make her
responsible for a successful passage across the underworld.
Nut's care and protection for her son Osiris explain her as a
tender and pitiful mother. Pious Egyptians prayed to her to be
protected like Osiris.

1:
Info from: http://www.egyptianmyths.net/colors.htm

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530 BC: Chieftain's Grave at Hochdorf
The symbolic coding-system of the Chieftain's garments for the
colours purple, red and blue and the twining technology
(equivalent to the Biblical Byssus-technology) may refer to
androgynous religion.

Fig. 4: The Celtic burial tomb at Hochdorf

From a distance the colour of the wrapped cover seems to be

purple as a mixture of red an blue.

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 Fig. 5: Dead body found wrapped in red and blue
towels

At the museum the imperial couch-clothings are being

described in the following way (from the outside to the corpse):
1. A single-coloured Shroud of Plain Twill
2. A smaller blue-red checked-coloured Cloth of Very
Fine Twill
3. A Tablet-Weave Band with Red and Blue Warp
4. A red Burial Cloth of fine Twill
5. Patterned Tablet-woven Band with Double Weave
6. Large Checked Cloth of Fine Twill
7. Patterned Tablet-woven band Band of Hemp Fiber and
Badger Hair; Double Weaves Using additional Pattern
Fibers

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In a reconstructed Celtic house at the Hochdorf Museum2 an
impressive loom with a large towel has been located. The
weavers used very thin twined threads for weaving. The pattern
uses red and blue colours to produce a purple image for the
sovereign.

Fig. 6: Reconstructed Celtic loom with

red & blue weaving

2:
Hochdorf near Stuttgart - Germany

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None of the archaeologists seems to have noticed that these
weaving technologies using twined threads in red, blue and
purple also has been used to produce the towels of Mose's
Covenant tent and the Solomon's Temple. The Bible e.g. quotes
Exodus 26:

26: “Moreover you shall make the tent with ten

curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple,
and scarlet, with cherubim. The work of the skilled
workman you shall make them."

Fig. 7: Reconstructed red and

blue weaving

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500 BC: The Parthenon's Fries
The Parthenon, a temple of the Greek goddess Athena, has
been built in the 5th century BC on the Athenian Acropolis.
The Parthenon's fries and other temples in the Mediterranean
area originally must have been painted in red, white and blue.
In analogy to the Hochdorf grave the colours red and blue may
refer to androgynous religion.

Fig. 8: Red/blue-colours at the Acropolis temple

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Fig. 9: Red/blue-colours at the Acropolis temple

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450 BC: Exodus and Chronicles II
According to tradition, the Book Exodus and the other four
Books of the Torah were written by Moses in the latter half of
the 2nd millennium BC. Modern biblical scholarship sees it
reaching its final textual form around 450 BC. The symbolic
coding-system for the colours purple, red and blue and the
twining technology (Byssus) may refer to androgynous
religion. The following quotations document the first divine
commands out of a total of 25 references in the Book Exodus
to make the Covenant Tent after offering gold, silver, brass,
4blue, purple, scarlet, fine linen:

26: “Moreover you shall make the tent with ten

curtains; of fine twined linen, and blue, and purple,
and scarlet, with cherubim. The work of the skilful
workman you shall make them.”

Although the Covenant Tent and Solomon's Temple reveal a

completely different character it may be noted that God's
prescription for the colouring code remains identical to both
David and Solomon. The Second Book of Chronicles reports:
27: ”Now therefore send me a man skilful to work in
gold, and in silver, and in brass, and in iron, and in
purple, and crimson, and blue, and who knows how
to engrave all manner of engravings, to be with the
skilful men who are with me in Judah and in Jerusalem,
whom David my father did provide. “

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333 BC: Alexander the Great
As a special mixture of red and blue the colour purple has been
considered as a divine symbol.
Tyrian purple may have been discovered as early as the time of
the Minoan civilization. Alexander the Great3 (when giving
imperial audiences as the emperor of the Macedonian Empire),
the emperors of the Seleucid Empire, and the kings of
Ptolemaic Egypt wore Tyrian purple. The imperial robes of
Roman emperors were Tyrian purple trimmed in metallic gold
thread. The badge of office of a Roman Senator was a stripe of
Tyrian purple on their white toga. Tyrian purple was continued
in use by the emperors of the Eastern Roman Empire until its
final collapse in 1453.
All senators had the right to wear the Latus clavus, a broad
purple stripe. The peculiarity in Caesar's case consisted in the
long fringed sleeves. In The Lives of the Caesars Suetonius
describes details from Caesar's funeral:
“When Caesar's funeral was announced, a pyre was
erected in the Campus Martius near the tomb of Julia,
and on the rostra a gilded shrine was placed, made after
the model of the temple of Venus Genetrix; within was
a couch of ivory with coverlets of purple and gold, and
at its head a pillar hung with the robe in which he was
slain.”

3:
Alexander III of Macedon (356–323 BC) Wikipedia-information

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500 Symbolism in icons
In religious icons colour plays an important role, especially
gold, red, blue and white. Jesus Christ wears red undergarment
with a blue outer garment and Mary wears a blue
undergarment with a red outer garment.
In the icons of Eastern Orthodoxy, and of the Early Medieval
West, very little room is made for artistic license. Almost
everything within the image has a symbolic aspect. In later
Western depictions, much of the symbolism survives, though
there is far less consistency. Some icons will also purple
garments as a alternative and as a mixture for red and blue.

Fig 10: Our Lady of

Czestochowa

An icon of Our Lady of Czestochowa, one of the national

symbols of Poland. (Free photograph from Wikipedia).

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The following icon displays Maria with an blue undergarment
and a red outer garment. Her child Jesus Christ wears red
undergarment with a blue outer garment

Fig 11: Medieval icon

Icon at the cloister Decani of Zar Dušan, approximately 1350

(Free photograph from Wikipedia).

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1240 Colour coding in medieval Bibles
Most medieval Bibles apply colour coding (for purple, red and
blue) in the headlines, initials, garments or backgrounds of the
manuscripts.

Fig 12: Genesis-line in the Korczek-

Bible (1400)

Fig 13: Backgrounds in Goslar

Evangelium-1240 AD

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Some manuscripts are using an alternating red and blue letter
combination for writing header-lines, text, initials and
ornaments.

Fig 14: Initials in Ancient History (14th Century)

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1308: La Divina Commedia
Dante's manuscript starts with a coloured line La Divina
Commedia:

Fig 15: La Divina Commedia

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The initials of the first line apply purple and golden ornamental

N
letters. The text now follows with alternating letters at the first
lines of the Divina Commedia:

EL
MEZ
ZO
DEL
CA
MMI
N
DI NOSTRA VITA
mi ritrovai per una selva oscura,
...

Obviously the initial letters for each line are chosen as to

preferably alternate the front line of the page as well.
Dante Alighieri's codex for the Divina Commedia (1308) has
been written using initials in alternating red and blue colors.
This method may be compared to the coding rules in writing a
medieval Bible...

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1358 The Tricolour of France
During the Middle Ages, these colours came to be associated
with the reigning house of France. In 1328, the coat-of-arms of
the House of Valois was blue with gold fleurs-de-lis bordered
in red. From this time on, the kings of France were represented
in vignettes and manuscripts wearing a red gown under a blue
coat decorated with gold fleurs-de-lis. It should be noted that,
in liturgical symbolism, gold is the equivalent of white.
Wearing a red gown under a blue coat for kings corresponds to
the red undergarment with a blue outer garment for Jesus
Christ in icons and medieval paintings. Obviously the kings
had adopted the divine clothing codes from the Book Exodus.
The blue and red of the flag have been the colours of Paris
since 1358 when they were used by the followers of Etienne
Marcel, then leader of a Parisian revolt against the King of
France and the Dauphin. In 1794, the Convention officially
adopted the tricolour, the Commander of the Guard, Lafayette,
having reputedly added the royal white between the blue and
the red. According to an alternative theory, the design was
inspired by the Dutch flag, which has horizontal red, white, and
blue stripes.

Fig 16: The Tricolour of France

(1358)

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1572 The flag of the Netherlands
The flag of the Netherlands is a horizontal tricolour of red,
white, and blue. Introduced in 1572, it is one of the first
tricolours and the oldest tricolour still in use today. Since 1937,
the flag has officially been the national flag of the Netherlands
and of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
The provinces of the Low Countries, rose in revolt against
King Philip II of Spain, and the Prince of Orange placed
himself at the head of the rebels. The Watergeuzen (pro-
independence privateers), acting on his instructions, harassed
the enemy everywhere they could and they did this under a
tricolour Orange White Blue ("Orange Blanche Blue", or in
Dutch: "Oranje Wit Blauw"/"Oranje Blanje Bleu"), the colours
of the Prince's coat of arms. It was thus a flag easily associated
with the leader of the rebellion, and the association was also
expressed in the name: "the Prince's Flag." In an atlas of
Kittensteyn, the first Red White and Blue flag can be seen on a
painting imaging a battle between the Watergeuzen and the
Spaniards. This date was early on in the Eighty Years' War, the
Dutch war of independence. Hence 1572 is the official year of
the introduction of this banner.

Fig 17: Flag of the

Netherlands (1572)

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1660 Russian tricolour flag
They’re waving the red, white and blue over in Russia today,
though not necessarily in that order. The white-blue-red
Russian tricolour flag dates back to the 1660s when Czar
Alexei Mikhailovich ordered ships to fly a similar banner for
identification. Historians speculate it may have been inspired
by the Dutch flag, the oldest remaining tricolour national flag,
but both tricolours may have a common religious base.
In the 1880s Czar Alexander III declared the tricolour flag the
official flag of Russia. After the October Revolution of 1917,
the tri-colour was replaced by the red Soviet hammer-and-
sickle flag. This banner however did not survive the period of
time for the Soviet Union. At Russia's independence from the
Soviet Union 1990 the Russian legislature chose to fly Russia’s
historic tricolour flag instead of the hammer-and-sickle flag of
the Soviet Union. It was only a piece of cloth, but the symbolic
gesture of raising the pre-Soviet flag definitely symbolized the
end of the Soviet Union.

Fig 18: Russian flag (1660)

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1814 A 15-starred banner (USA)
There is some evidence the colours red, white and blue have
been chosen by Templars and Freemasons in a great number of
countries, namely Holland, France, England, Scotland and the
USA. The Masonic Apron of George Washington has been
included in a red-white-blue enclosement.

Fig 19: Indiana Mason Flag

At the time of defining a banner the leading intelligentsia in
most of these countries are known to have been influenced by
Templar-or Freemason-symbolism.

Fig 20: 15-starred banner over

Fort McHenry (1814)

Has this early version of the Star Spangled Banner been

inspired by the masonic basic symbols ?

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1898 Flag of the Philippines
The flag of the Philippines was officially hoisted for the first
time on 12th of June in 1898. It shows two horizontal stripes in
blue and red with an isosceles white triangle on the leech. The
designing elements of the flag of the Philippines are broadly of
Masonic origin.

Fig 21: Flag of the Philippines

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1956 Painting by Marc Chagall

Fig 22: Androgynous face by Marc

Chagall

The Albertina museum exposed a lithographic painting4 titled

David & Bethsabée styled like a modern icon by Marc Chagall
in 1956.

4:
Marc Chagall (1887-1985)

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Conclusion
According to a number of divine commands in the Book
Exodus and the second Book of Chronicles the colours Purple,
Red and Blue must have been religious symbols for a very long
time. Reported findings at Hochdorf, Germany indicate the
symbolism may have been shared or adopted by the
neighbouring peoples (Egyptian, Celtic and German peoples,
Greeks and Romans).
In the Middle Ages Purple, Red and Blue played a major role in
ornamentations and symbolism in the Bible, in religious
paintings and in non-religious books such as Dante's Divina
Commedia. From these manuscripts the symbolism may have
passed to the garments of the French kings and probably other
aristocrats as well.
Subsequently the symbolic colours red and blue transferred to
the flags and banners of a great number of organisations (e.g.
the Freemasons) and nations (the USA, Russia, England,
France, the Netherlands, the Philippines).
Oriental iconic paintings may still be following the original
colour codex, but medieval synodical congregations allowed
occidental painters to deviate from the standard colour codex to
create religious paintings according to their own artistic
feelings.

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