I am at the Met (big surprise) and I have been surprised by Christological Goldfinch in an unusual place.
On the one hand our finch is is in usual place: baby Jesus hand.
On the other hand, our finch is in the 16th century!
Here is Perino del Vaga (+1547)
It is interesting to see this topos transported into this period.
And this is promising!
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since Sat., 25 Nov. 2006:
I realize there is a significance to the GoldFinch, could someone please explain it? Thank you
This museum has a good explanation of a goldfinch held by the Christ Child, as depicted on a 14th century altarpiece:
http://www.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/pharos/collection_pages/middle_pages/563/TXT_BR_SS-563.html
I like your fascination with birds, Father. I have mine too: it is the hummingbird. There’s a priest here in Santa Fe who can’t feed them sugar water fast enough. They are graceful, beautiful, creatures!
ladytatslace: In renaissance paintings of the infant Christ, the goldfinch is a symbol of presentiment of the Passion. It’s not entirely certain how this came about: one explanation is that goldfinches eat thistles, and therefore came to symbolize the Crown of Thorns (the bird’s red head being symbolic of a wound, and of the Precious Blood.)
There was a legend that the bird’s face was spotted with red when it flew down over the head of Christ and took a thorn from His crown, when it was splashed with the drop of His blood.
Whatever the reason, it was a very often-used symbol, as Fr Z has pointed out in previous posts. There are at least 486 renaissance paintings of Christ with a goldfinch.
I particularly like this playful variant by the great (but little-known) 16th-century painter Federico Barocci, with St John the Baptist (in the role of the ‘naughty boy’) teasing a cat by holding the goldfinch out of its reach…
http://www.nationalgallery.org.uk/paintings/federico-barocci-the-madonna-of-the-cat-la-madonna-del-gatto