Beholding the Light: Symbols and Images of Christ

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Beholding the Light Symbols and Images of
Christ
The Life and Ministry of the Savior
Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of the
Eternal Father! (1 Nephi 1121)


www.moa.byu.edu rita_wright_at_byu.edu
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Beholding . . .

• When Nephi saw his vision of the life of the
  Savior, the angel asked him not only to look but
  to Behold the Lamb of God, yea, even the Son of
  the Eternal Father! (1 Nephi 1121)
• Beholding involves considering and
  contemplating, understanding and interpreting,
  receiving knowledge and holding in remembrance.

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Ponder them in your heart . ..

• But Mary kept all these things, and pondered
  them in her heart.
• Luke 219
• Treasure these thing up in your hearts, and let
  the solemnities of eternity rest upon your
  minds. DC 4334

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• Objectives
• To introduce the concept of symbolism and the
  conventional interpretations of symbols in works
  of art
• To facilitate personal understanding of the
  spiritual concepts underlying symbols

It is in and through symbolism that man
consciously or unconsciously lives, works, and
has his being. Those ages, moreover, are
accounted the noblest which can best recognize
symbolic worth, and prize it the
highest. Thomas Carlyle, 19th century
Scottish historian and essayist
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Elder John A. Widtsoe

• We live in a world of symbols. No man or woman
  can come out of the temple endowed as he should
  be, unless he has seen, beyond the symbol, the
  mighty realities for which the symbols stand.
• John A. Widtsoe, Temple Worship, The Utah
  Genealogical and Historical Magazine 12 April
  192162. quoted in Preparing to Enter the Holy
  Temple, 8)

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If we deny our children their historical,
cultural heritage, their birthright to these
stories, what then? Instead of creating men and
women who have a grasp of literary allusion and
symbolic language, and a metaphorical tool for
dealing with the serious problems of life, we
will be forming stunted boys and girls who speak
only a barren language, a language that
accurately reflects their equally barren
minds. Jane Yolen, Touch Magic, p. 19
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What is a symbol?
Dove
Lillies/Submissive Pose
Removed Shoes
A symbol is a concrete object or image used to
represent an abstract idea or concept.
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Elder Boyd K. Packer

• If you go to the temple and remember that the
  teaching is symbolic you will never go in the
  proper spirit without coming away with your
  vision extended, feeling a little more exalted,
  with your knowledge increased as to things that
  are spiritual. The teaching plan is superb. It
  is inspired.
• Preparing to Enter the
• Holy Temple, 8.

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Brigham Young

• Every good and perfect gift cometh from God.
  Every discovery in science and art that is really
  true and useful to mankind has been given by
  direct revelation from God, though but few
  acknowledge it. It has been given with a view to
  prepare the way for the ultimate triumph of
  truth, and the redemption of the earth from the
  power of sin and Satan.
• (Discourses of Brigham Young, 18)

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The Annunciation, Nativity and Childhood of the
Savior

• And Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in
  favour with God and man.
• Luke 252
• This work can be seen in the BYU Museum of Art

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The Annunciation

• The Annunciation is the Angel Gabriels
  announcement to Mary proclaiming that she has
  been chosen as the mother of the Messiah. It is
  usually portrayed in a domestic or ecclesiastical
  interior, separating the sacred from the secular
  world.

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The Annunciation, Master of Apollo and Daphne
(early 16th century)
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Symbols in Art and Scripture
Dove
Lillies/Submissive Pose
Removed Shoes
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(No Transcript)
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James E. Talmage

• Even yet she comprehended but in part the
  import of this momentous visitation. Not in the
  spirit of doubt such as had prompted Zacharias to
  ask for a sign, but through an earnest desire for
  information and explanation.
• Jesus the Christ 75-76

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Annunciation, Fra Angelico (1450)
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Annunciation from the Merode Altarpiece, Robert
Campin (1425)
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Joseph/Tools/Mousetrap
Lillies/Snuffed Candle/Towel/Scriptures
Patrons/Cloister
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The Annunciation , Beatrice Emma Parsons, 1897
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The Annunciation (Ecce Ancilla Domini), Dante
Gabriel Rossetti, c. 1849
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The Girlhood of Mary Virgin, Dante Gabriel
Rossetti, 1848-49
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The Nativity

• I begin to wonder what must have been in Marys
  mind as she held the Baby in her armsthe awesome
  wonderment of what had happened to her, the
  declaration of the angels, the proclamation that
  she would conceive by the Father, that she would
  bear a son, that His name would be Jesus, that He
  would be the Son of God, the Savior and the
  Redeemer of the world.
• M. Russell Ballard, When Thou Art
  Converted, chapter 9

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Adoration of the Shepherds, Eustache Le Sueur
(mid-17th century)
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Symbols in Art and Scripture
Ruins
White Sheet
Rock
Ox
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(No Transcript)
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Nativity, Brian Kershisnik (2005-2006)
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(No Transcript)
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(No Transcript)
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Come Let Us Adore Him

• Annunciation to shepherds
• Visit of the Wise Men

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Annunciation to the Shepherds, Minerva Teichert
(1946)
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The Three Wise Men, Minerva Teichert (1939)
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Madonna and Child, Ridolfo Ghirlandaio (ca.
1520-35)
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The Small Cowper Madonna, Raphael (1505)
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Madonna of the Meadow, Raphael (1505)
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(No Transcript)
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The Saviors Childhood

• The power of loving parents
• The Saviors submissiveness and obedience
• Foreshadowing His death

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Saint Joseph with Jesus, Krzystof Krajewski
(1992)
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When Joseph went to Bethlehem, I think he took
great care To place his tools and close his shop
and leave no shavings there . . . I think there
at the busy inn that he was meek and mild And
awed to be the guardian of Marys sacred child.
Childrens Songbook, 38
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Saint Joseph with Jesus, Krzystof Krajewski
(1992)
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Our Savior Subject to His Parents at Nazareth,
by John Rogers Herbert, R.A. (1860)
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Jesus came among men to experience all the
natural conditions of mortality He was born as
truly a dependent, helpless babe as is any other
child His infancy was in all common features as
the infancy of others His boyhood was actual
boyhood, His development was as necessary and as
real as that of all children. Over His mind had
fallen the veil of forgetfulness common to all
who are born to earth . . . Daniel H. Ludlow,
Companion to Your Study of the New Testament,
270.
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Symbols in Art and Scripture
Red Jug
Winnowing Basket
Two Pigeons
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Our Savior Subject to His Parents at Nazareth,
by John Rogers Herbert, R.A. (1860)
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The Ministry of the Savior

• From that time Jesus began to preach, and to
  say, Repent for the kingdom of heaven is at
  hand.
• Matthew 417

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Head of Christ, Circle of Rembrandt (c. 1650)
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(No Transcript)
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Christ Healing the Sick at Bethesda, Carl Bloch
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Rescue of the Lost Lamb, Minerva Teichert
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The Prodigals Return, Sir Edward John Poynter
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Symbols in Art and Scripture
New growth
Stairs
Vine
Red/Blue
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Symbols in Art and Scripture

• Object
• Stairs
• Vine
• Colors of Red and Blue
• Corn husks

• Scriptural Reference
• 1 Nephi 1116
• Knowest thou the condescension of God?
• John 151
• I am the true vine . . .
• Isaiah 118
• though your sins be as scarlet they shall be as
  white as snow . . .
• Luke 1515-16
• . . . He would fain have filled his belly with
  the husks that the swine did eat . . .

• Symbolism
• Condescension of God
• Jesus as the true vine abundance of His mercy
• Red atonement and sacrifice
• Blue royalty, faith
• Symbols of impoverished lifestyle

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The Embrace
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The Crucifixion and Resurrection of the Savior

• And they crucified him, and parted his garments,
  casting lots that it might be fulfilled which
  was spoken by the prophet . . .
• Matthew 27 35

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The Crucifixion, A Triptych, Bernard Sleigh
(1906)
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Pre-Raphaelite (Dante Gabriel Rossetti) influence
on Bernard Sleigh
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Symbols in Art and Scripture
Chains
Broken Sword
Scroll Crown
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Symbols in Art and Scripture

• Object
• Chains
• Broken sword
• Torn Scroll, Removed crown

• Scriptural Reference
• Acts 823/Alma 3618
• For I perceive that thou art in the gall of
  bitterness, and in the bond of iniquity.
• O Jesus, thou Son of God, have mercy on me,
  who am in the gall of bitterness, and am
  encircled about by the everlasting chains of
  death.
• Isaiah 24
• they shall beat their swords into plowshares,
  and their spears into pruninghooks
• Isaiah 3322
• For the Lord is our judge, the Lord is our
  lawgiver, the Lord is our king he will save us.

• Symbolism
• Captivity of death and sin, which can be overcome
  by the Savior
• End of all war
• Christ as the new Judge, Lawgiver, King

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(No Transcript)
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• And when Jesus had cried with a loud voice, he
  said, Father, into thy hands I commend my spirit
  and having said thus, he gave up the ghost . . .
  And all his acquaintance, and the women that
  followed him from Galilee, stood afar off,
  beholding these things italics added.
  (Luke 2346, 49)

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Lamentation, Giotto di Bondone (1304-06)
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(No Transcript)
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He is Risen

• Now upon the first day of the week, very early
  in the morning, they came unto the sepulchre,
  bringing the spices which they had prepared, and
  certain others with the.
• And they found the stone rolled away from the
  sepulchre.
• And they entered in, and found not the body of
  the Lord Jesus.

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• And it came to pass, as they were much
  perplexed thereabout, behold, two men stood by
  them in shining garments
• And as they were afraid, and bowed down their
  faces to the earth, they said unto them, Why seek
  ye the living among the dead?
• He is not here, but is risen . . .
• (Luke 241-6)

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Touch Me Not, Minerva Teichert
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Exchange No. 8, Ron Richmond
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Isaiah 1 18

• . . . Though your sins be as scarlet, they shall
  be as white as snow though they be red like
  crimson, they shall be as wool.

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Exchange No. 8, Ron Richmond
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Triplus No. 1, Ron Richmond (2005)
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• That by reason of transgression cometh the
  fall, which fall bringeth death, and inasmuch as
  ye were born into the world by water, and blood,
  and the spirit, which I have made, and so became
  of dust a living soul, even so ye must be born
  again into the kingdom of heaven, of water, and
  of the Spirit, and be cleansed by blood, even the
  blood of mine Only Begotten that ye might be
  sanctified from all sin, and enjoy the words of
  eternal life in this world, and eternal life in
  the world to come, even immortal glory
• For by the water ye keep the commandment by the
  Spirit ye are justified, and by the blood ye are
  sanctified . . . (Moses 659)

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Triplus No. 1, Ron Richmond (2005)
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Beholding Salvation Images of Christ

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