Subject: Halo Art
Painting: Subject PageSubjects, Topics & Types:
- Description (below)
- Three Art Topics
- Three General Topics
- Confusions
- Others...
Videos:
- Haloes in Art: Part 1
- Haloes in Art: Part 2
- Haloes in Art: Part 3 (HAR on Patreon)
Three General Topics:
- Thirty-two Major & Eighty Minor Marks
- Halo in Art
- Halo/Light in Meditation
The halo is the circle or ring of colour surrounding the head and body of religious figures. The halo is most commonly seen with painting. Sculptural figures often have a throne back or 'torana.' The halo represents light, an effulgence, a brilliance, radiating from the form of the figure. Shakyamuni Buddha is described in literature as having 'a body radiant like a mountain of gold.' The luminous characteristics of of a buddha body are described in the various lists of the thirty-two major and eighty minor marks of a fully enlightened one, also known as the marks of a universal conqueror.
Haloes (halos) are essentially an artistic convention. The halo frames the face and body of a figure. It is important that the colour of the halo contrast well with the colour of the figure and highlight the face in particular. The colour and size of the halo has the function of framing and featuring the full figure of the deity or historical person. The head and body haloes are of two different sizes and generally of two different colours so as not to clash one with the other. Haloes are not described in religious literature or in ritual or meditation texts. They are an artistic convention independent of religion and religious studies. The size, shape and colour of the haloes are totally at the discretion of the artist.
Haloes in painting can be solid circles of colour, gradient shades or simple outlines incorporating the background landscape. In the early art of the 12th to 15th centuries the halo might be trimmed with patterns imitating the colours of a rainbow or a partial spectrum of colour. Early examples also incorporate architectural elements as if the painting were a full sculpture or a partial relief against a wall. With these examples the halo of the head and body can appear as if carved from wood.
Depending on the painting tradition haloes can be oblong, oval, or almost any shape providing that it serve the purposes of contrasting and highlighting the the face of the figure portrayed. Thin circular outlines with a transparent effect originate with the Khyenri style of the 15th century.
Haloes are primarily a convention of peaceful deities and human figures, historical or fanciful. They can also be found with semi-peaceful and semi-wrathful deities. It is rare to find the use of haloes with wrathful figures because the flaming yellow and orange hair on the head takes the place of the head halo and the circle of flames surrounding the body serves as the body halo. In some painting traditions, for the purpose of framing the head of the deity, a decorative scarf in the shape of two semi-circles in contrasting colours is used to frame and highlight.
Three General Topics:
- Thirty-two Major & Eighty Minor Marks
--- 32 Major Marks
--- 80 Minor Marks
--- Differences in Lists
- Halo in Art
--- Shape
--- Colour
--- PaintingTradition/Style
- Halo/Light in Meditation
--- Moon Disc (behind)
--- Luminous Body
--- Streaming Light
Jeff Watt 11-2021
(The images below are only a selection of examples highlighting the different halo types of Arya Tara).
