Aureola super Auream:Crowns and Related Symbols of Special Distinction for Saints in Late Gothic and Renaissance Iconography

Abstract

In scholastic theology aurea and aureola are terms used to distinguish degrees of merit among the saints. Aurea, meaning in this context a “golden crown,” refers metaphorically to the condition of sainthood enjoyed by all the blessed; in works of art this crown is represented by what is now called a halo. Aureola, that is, a “small golden crown,” designates an additional, higher reward reserved for virgins, martyrs, and doctors, three categories of particularly meritorious saints according to scholastic writers. Since the eighteenth century scholastic teaching about the aureola has been largely forgotten as the doctrine ceased to be of theological interest, and the two terms have come to be confused and conflated. Consequently, the meaning of the aureola crowns so commonly found in late medieval and Early Renaissance art has been lost. This study, complementing an earlier article, applies the theology of the aureola to clarify the meaning of a number of Italian works of the Early Renaissance; to elucidate...