Behold A Pale Horse

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Interesting subject.

Thanks Carole - Renaissance religious art has some very interesting iconography.

Recently I’ve been taking a course in Renaissance Painting and have been intrigued with the religious symbolism of many of the paintings of this period. I thought I’d try my hand at creating a similar type which I’ve called “Behold A Pale Horse” after the biblical reference in the Book of Revelation where this horse is associated with Death. The central figure is a pilgrim on the journey of life. The rock in the right foreground with the cross on top are symbols for the Christian Church. The string of beads on the cross form a serpentine shape indicating traditional belief in the fall from grace of humankind and later restoration through Christ’s resurrection. The skull is a “momento mori” – a reminder that we are not immortal and that physical death awaits at the end of our life journey – thus the apparition of the horse. To the left, in the woods, lurks the devil or evil always waiting to lure the unwary from the path of righteousness. However above all is the guiding light of faith from the upper left.