Jesus Christ, Aries in Red #25

RaphaelRAPHAEL was born and died on Good Friday (1483-1520). Almost invariably, his Christs and Madonnas are robed in red. According to Matthew the soldiers put a scarlet robe on the bleeding Christ. Christ may well have been an Aries leader. ('I did not come to bring peace, but a sword'); the Christmas date is a late borrowing from an ancient Roman festival. He was, if not born, more importantly, reborn at the Passover/Easter time. The stark echo of womb and tomb, the perpetually tragic Mother and Son, the sacrificed lamb of God, the cult of sacred suffering and sacred Paschal blood, the barbaric cannibalism repeated in the Eucharist, are colors from the paint pot of Aries, the emblem of origins.

 Raphael

Anthony Van Dyck