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Chapter IV
Emblems The use of symbolism throughout the Exposition is essentially Spanish. It is not religious in purpose it is purely an architectural decoration, in Spain, symbolism in the days of the Renaissance was wrought out mainly in the hands of the architects. It did not appear in the early Spanish paintings to any degree, but about the doorways, on the façades of the buildings and upon the friezes and cornices the Spaniards lavished a veritable lacework of heraldic and symbolic decoration. Some of the most characteristic of these Spanish motifs have been drawn upon throughout the architectural schemes of decoration at the Exposition, notably the use of the rose and the shell. The stories of the origin of these two motifs in Spanish architecture show in what beautiful and romantic thought the Spaniards employed symbolism. The rose as used throughout the Exposition is what is known as the Rose of the Renaissance - the Rose of Jericho. A Spanish crusader of the House of Castile, answering the mystic call that summoned men forth to unknown lands and unwonted hardships, fell exhausted upon the desert sands in the land of Jericho, and at his earnest entreaty was left to perish by his companions. As he lay alone and dying a Saracen chief rode by with his daughter. She besought her father to bear the helpless stranger to their home, and in accordance with the desert laws of hospitality to give him shelter and assistance. In the home of the Saracen the Christian knight was brought back to life and health, and in the garden surrounded by the white roses that seemed the emblem of her youth and beauty, he wooed and won the maid, and took her as his bride to Spain. In the new land she drooped and faded, and he learned with anguish of her longing for her own land and her own people. She pined for the scenes of her girlhood, and particularly for the great white roses that had bloomed with such profusion in the garden of her home.
She died, and the Crusader planted the rose above her tomb. He had the flower form carved in stone upon her memorial in the church of his fathers, and the Spanish builders, seizing upon the beauty of the design and the pathos of the story, wrought it about the doorways and the arches and the friezes throughout all Spain. This is perhaps the most widely used of the Spanish architectural symbols at the Exposition. About the doorways, below the cornices, supporting the garlands of the friezes in the coffered vaults of the arches, everywhere the Rose of Jericho - the Rose of Spain - is set. In art generally the rose signifies glory, and the thought of Spain. Among the Romans and Greeks and in Christian art the rose stands for opulence, for festivity, for abundance and for pleasure. The story of the shell has more of a religious note.
Topping most of the light posts, gracing the cornices, banding the columns, and in many places interlaced with the rose about the portals at the Exposition, can be found the cockle-shell of Saint James, the other great Spanish sign. Another beautiful story is found in the adaptation of the acanthus leaf into Greek symbolism, the motif of the Corinthian capital. The plant grew in the gardens of the Greek Elysium, hence its meaning is heavenly life the resurrection. It springs up afresh each year and therefore typifies the new life, in symbolism it is very Roman, very Greek and very Pagan. It recalls this tender story of death and love, and the triumph of love over death:
Among the Greeks this column always stood before the shrines of the virgin goddess Diana, before the portals of Minerva's temples, and upheld the roof above the shrines of Juno. Hundreds of other forms have in this manner, through romance, through tragedy, through sentiment or through pathos, found their way into the forms of decoration that artists, sculptors and architects have lavished upon their work. Some other of the most frequently used and easily recognized emblems that may be seen in the friezes, on the walls and cornices, on the columns and arcades and arches, around the doorways and topping the domes and towers of the Exposition, are these: The olive - leaf and branch; among the Greeks, sacred for its healing qualities; for peace and rest. Among the Christians the olive means peace, reconciliation. It is a very Spanish symbol, especially when combined with the dove. The pineapple - the emblem of power and resistance to the elements; also of preservation.
The Egyptian rain sign - parallel lines waving in a vertical direction, suggesting the falling rain. The fleur-de-lis - fecundity. It comes from ancient Egypt, Syria and Persia, and entered into the art of the west by way of Byzantium. Ornamenting the scepter and crowns of the early Christian kings, it expresses majesty, royalty and loyalty.
The pomegranate - a Roman symbol of fecundity, fruitfulness, unity and power. The thought is found in the countless seeds shut within a single shell. Dante speaks of the pomegranate as the emblem of life on the other side of death. Mrs. Jamison says it is the symbol of immortality; the seeds of hope in eternity typified by the unexpected sweetness of the seeds in the bitter rind. The early Roman Christians took it as the symbol of unity of thought; hence, a vast congregation within a single church. The palm - a Roman sign for victory over death.
The apple - the emblem of the knowledge of good and evil. Corn and wheat - the lavish gifts of the earth. Corn was indigenous in Egypt, and wheat in the valley of the Tigres. These two grains were used on the temples of Greece and Rome as emblems of man's appreciation of the generosity and bounty of the gods. They were peculiarly sacred to Jupiter and to Ceres. The lotus - an Egyptian sign of the resurrection. The ram's head is shown below with the lotus on the under side of the bowl. The oak - emblem of the passing of long years hence, disuse; hung with ivy it typifies decay. These two symbols are of Norse or Druidical origin.
The dragon - perhaps derived from the dinosaur of ancient times. It typifies the power of demoniacal fury; hence, power, might. This is a Norse symbol. It was adopted by the Chinese to typify sovereignty; also the awful power of pestilence to bring death upon high and low. The salamander - the symbol of undying faith, because it can live in fire and cold. In heraldry it signifies the brave and generous courage that affliction and defeat cannot subdue. The four elements are often typified:
The pelican - symbol of piety and of self-sacrifice. The old legends told that in time of famine the pelican pierced her own breast and fed her young upon her blood. The grapevine is shown here with the pelican. The lion is used by the Romans as the symbol of the midsummer month of the year; the month of the summer solstice. The dolphin, king of fish, ruler of the denizens of the sea, in the old French superstition was believed to be the shrewdest fish that swam. In the province of Dauphine, even to this day, the peasants have a festival in which they pass in procession through the streets, carrying as a votive offering to their patron saint a huge fish of pastry from which paper streamers in the form of fish depend. Because at one time the fish from this province saved the people of France in time of famine the King of France named his heir the Dauphin. Among the Greeks the dolphin was sacred to Apollo, because he once took this form. The dolphin signifies the conquest of the sea, and is a favorite emblem for many seaports. The gorgon - Medusa's head signifies sagacious ferocity; implacability; hate.
The serpent, universal object of primitive worship, symbol of wisdom and treachery. Among the Greeks it was the seeing creature, the sign of healing; among the Romans, the strangler; the destroyer. On the caduceus of Mercury it means sleep and craft; among the Christians, the sign of the fall; of subtlety. Shown in a circle with its tail in its mouth is the sign of eternity. The Viscomti family of Italy use it springing from the helmet - the sign of relentless enmity. The double-headed eagle - used by several countries to show authority over two lands, and used by Spain to show she had possessions in two hemispheres. It was first used in Spain in the arms of Charles I.
Pegasus, the beautiful winged horse - in classic allusion symbolizes fame, eloquence, poetic study, contemplation, swiftness of thought, ambition, and creative power. The signs of the zodiac - these are Arabic and probably run back through the Persian to a Chaldean origin. They are twelve in number: the ram, the bull, the twins, the crab, the lion, the virgin, the scales, the scorpion, the archer, the goat, the water carrier and the fish.
The centaur - or Sagittarius - a sign of the zodiac - half man, half horse. He is holding an arrow on a bended bow. Among the Romans the centaur was sacred to those slain in battle. Among the Greeks it was the emblem of the old Thessalians overwhelmed by Athens; therefore barbarism overcome by civilization. Stephen, husband of Matilda of England, used it as an heraldic blazon after the success of his bowmen in the battle of the Standard. The phœnix - an imaginary bird; in form like an eagle and of beautiful plumage. It was the bird sacred to the sun. Every five hundred years it built its nest of spices in the heart of the desert of Arabia. This pyre, heated by the sun and fanned by the wings of the phoenix, took fire and consumed the bird. From the ashes a new phœnix soared, to live again five hundred years, ever new, ever beautiful. Therefore, to the Greeks and Romans and to the early Christians it typified resurrection and immortality. The Chinese and Japanese held it sacred and believed that it ascended into heaven with the dragon and that great events would call it to earth again. In heraldry it is always shown rising from flames with its wings expanded. It is a favored emblem among chemists and apothecaries, as it shows the power of rejuvenation. The family of William of Nassau placed it upon their coat of arms to symbolize the sacrifice of his life for his people, for even from his death. The Netherlands arose in new strength. The phœnix is the official emblem of the city of San Francisco - twice risen to new power from her ashes.
The gourd - resurrection turning brown and withering away in autumn, its seeds spring to vivid new life in the spring rains. The laurel leaf crowned the victor in the games and contests of Greece and Rome; hence, means victory. The lily of Aragon - a Spanish symbol of purity. They are also called Annunciation lilies.
The grapevine - used among the early Christians to symbolize the lavish gift of Christ hence, redemption, sacrifice. The scarab - an Egyptian sign. The outstretched wings that spring from beneath the carapace are the sign of death and the indestructible carapace of eternity. Among the priests in Egypt death meant not oblivion, but the after-life. This the ignorant were not allowed to know.
The seahorse - a mythical creature whose best counterpart is found in the tiny pipe-fish of today. Seahorses were creatures of Neptune, and symbolize the waves as they pursue each other to the shore. The great trading cities used the seahorse as the emblem of the speed of their ships. Cromwell bore it on his arms with the lion to show that he guarded both sea and land. Pan, the Greek symbol of Nature; not in her destructive, lavish mood; but the all-controlling power of life without its soul. The bulls' heads or bucrania are emblematic of the gifts of the fields. Among the Greeks the ox drew the plow and after death his bones returned to the dust in the fields his labors had helped to make productive. The bulls at the feast of the harvest, garlanded by flowers, were led by the maidens into the temple, and their blood was poured into the festal urns with oil and wheat and wine. In the height of the glory of Greece the bull was not sacrificed.
The sphinx - a creature with the head and bust of a woman, the paws of a lion, the body of a dog and the tail of a dragon. Among the Egyptians the sphinx represented physical and mental power. It was the symbol of royal dignity, wisdom and strength; of profound theological mystery. Sphinxes are black, in allusion to the obscure nature of the Deity. The white head-dress may suggest the linen tiara of the priests. The belief is growing that the sphinx was symbolical of the bountiful overflow of the Nile which happened when the sun was in the signs of Leo and Virgo, the beast and the woman suggested in its body, and that it had its name from this circumstance, for in the language of the Chaldeans the name "sphinx" means overflow. Among the Greeks, who undoubtedly took the idea from the Egyptians, the sphinx was changed. Wings were added and the face lost its Nubian character and assumed its more classic and sharply chiselled features. The real Egyptian sphinx is never winged.
The chimera was an imaginary fire-breathing monster of great swiftness and strength. It had the head of a lion, the body of a goat, the tail of a dog, and the feet of a dragon. It was used by Philip II. of Spain after his marriage with Mary Tudor to symbolize the heresy of England which he purposed to destroy. These signs have been used by the architects mostly in their conventional sense and purely as matters of decoration, they all however, have a definite origin and were originally used as symbols for the expression of definite thought and meaning. |
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