Red Hair in Art: Michelino da Besozzo

Michelino Molinari da Besozzo (c. 1370 – c. 1455) was a notable fifteenth century Italian painter and illuminator, who was widely praised for his work. He worked mostly in Milan and Lombardy, and was employed by the Visconti family, rulers of Milan. Michelino's work follows the traditions of the Lombard School, and maintains the Trecento style.

Though few of his works have survived to the present day, Michelino was among the most famous artists of his day, and was widely acclaimed and praised. Remaining examples of Michelino’s work deny the classicizing style of the Renaissance, instead maintaining the more rigid forms of the outdated, Gothic style of the Proto-Renaissance. Michelino's career was most relevant during his time in Milan, where he worked for the Visconti family. Michelino was given major commissions in Milan, and was notably employed to design windows for the Visconti’s cathedral.

Crowning of Gian Galeazzo Visconti

Detail from the Castle of Pavia

Madonna in the Rosary

Page from Libro d'Oro depicting the Annunciation

 

More German proverbs about red hair

In this post we have already listed proverbs in German about red hair. Some of them are similar to those from other countries, especially those about the notorious red-bearded man. 😁

Recently, I found more proverbs in German (from Germany, Austria and Switzerland) in the book  Sprichwörter der germanischen und romanischen Sprachen - Zweiter Band (by Ida von Düringsfeld and Otto von Reinsberg-Düringsfeld), the second volume of a two-volume collection of European proverbs. They are very interesting and feature a new entry: the notorious... alder tree! 😄

 

-  Die rothen Leute haben sieben Häute, sechs Mal mehr als andre Leute 

Redheads have seven skins, six more than other people (from Switzerland)

 

-  Rothaarigen sind entweder recht gut oder recht schlimm 

Redheads are either completely good or completely bad (from Switzerland)

 

- Rothes Haupt, böses Blut 

Red head, evil blood

 

- Rothe Leutchen, Teufelshäutchen 

Häutchen means membrane, film, thin coating. So, the proverb could be translated as: Red-haired people have a devil’s skin/coating (from Switzerland)

 

- Rother Bart und Erlenbogen geraten selten, ist nicht erlogen

 Here the word Erlenbogen is not very clear. Erlen means alder and Bogen arch, curve, bow. However, Erlenbogen is similar to Ellbogen, elbow. We could translate it as: 

A red beard and an arch made of alder rarely succeed, this is not a lie.

 

-  Erlenholz und rothes Haar sind auf gutem Boden rar

 Red hair and alder wood rarely are from a good soil

 

-  Rothes Haar und Erlenholz wachsen auf keiem guten Boden / Rothe Haare und Erlenholz, die wachsen auf keinem guten Grund

Red hair and alder wood rarely grow from a good soil/ground

I have no idea what the problem with the alder is. 😅 According to what I read on the internet, alder is very resistant to unfavorable conditions and for this reason it is used for biological environmental remediation, that is, for the recovery of quarries, mining sites, and burned areas. So, probably, these proverbs refer to the alder's ability to grow even on "bad" soils.

Below, we have proverbs from Die deutschen Sprichwörter im Mittelalter. They are in Middle High German (circa between 1050 and 1350).

 

-  Im was der bart unt daz har
beidiu röt, viurvar,
von den selben boere ich sagen,
daz si valschiu herze tragen.

Those who have a beard and hair
both red, verily
of them I dare say
they bear a false heart

- Ez süllen vrouwen unde man
den röten gesellen lazen gän.

Women and men
should let the red-haired friend/companion go

- Er liez sin gesellen an der nöt,
als noch tuot der geselle röt.

He abandoned his companion/friend in need,
as the red-haired companion/friend still does today

- Wan wenne ez gät an rechte nöt
sö lät er dich, wan er ist röt.

 If things go really bad,
he abandons you, if he is a redhead

- Kurzen mit dömüete
und röten mit güete
und langen man wisen
die dri sol man prisen.

Literally, this translates as: The short with humility, the redheads with goodness and the tall with wisdom, the three have to be praised. I guess this proverb is more or less like the ones we have in Italian, French and Spanish, so I would thanslate it as

If the short are humble
the redheads good
and the tall wise,
they have to be praised

- Rötpart und erlin pogen [erlenbogen?],
thuens recht, sö muoß mans loben. 

 Redheads and an arche made of alder,
if they behave well, they have to be praised

- Ein röter bart und erlenbogen,
für diese dreizehn noch so viel
gibt niemand gern ein pappenstiel.

Redheads and an alder arch,
even if they were more than thirteen
no one would even give (pay?) a stick 

 

The notorious alder tree

  

 

Tons of Italian proverbs about red hair (in dialect too!)

Russian proverbs about redheads and a decree from Peter the Great  

More ancient proverbs about red hair 

European proverbs about red hair  

Scottish proverbs

French proverbs 

Galician proverbs about red hair 

Hungarian proverbs about red hair 

Bodhidharma: was the founder of Chan Buddhism a redbeard?

Bodhidharma  was a semi-legendary Buddhist monk who lived during the 5th or 6th century. He is traditionally credited as the transmitter of Chan Buddhism to China, and is regarded as its first Chinese patriarch. He is also popularly regarded as the founder of Shaolin kung fu.  

Bodhidharma, Ukiyo-e woodblock print by Japanese artist Yoshitoshi, 1887

 

 

 

Little contemporary biographical information on Bodhidharma is extant, and subsequent accounts became layered with legend and unreliable details. According to the principal Chinese sources, Bodhidharma came from the Western Regions, which typically refers to Central Asia, but can also include the Indian subcontinent, and is described as either a "Persian Central Asian" or a "South Indian [...] the third son of a great Indian king." Aside from the Chinese accounts, several popular traditions also exist regarding Bodhidharma's origins. Throughout Buddhist art, Bodhidharma is depicted as an ill-tempered, large-nosed, profusely-bearded, wide-eyed non-Chinese person. He is referred to as "The Blue-Eyed Barbarian" in Chan texts.

The Tibetan and Southeast traditions consistently regard Bodhidharma as South Indian, the former in particular characterising him as a dark-skinned Dravidian. Conversely, the Japanese tradition generally regards Bodhidharma as a red-haired Persian. 

Bodhidharma painted by Miyamoto Musashi

 

Although the presence of a redhead in ancient China might seem dubious, in previous posts we have already accounted for red-haired people in ancient China and bordering countries.

Here we have talked of a postumous description of Genghis Khan depicting him as a redhead, and here we have seen Wikipedia’s censorship of this description.

This is a post about the European-looking mummies found in the Chinese region of Xinjiang, while here you can read that emperor Liu Yuan was described as having red hair and a long beard.

Some of you probably know this fresco, depicting a blue-eyed, red-haired Central Asian monk (Tocharian or Sogdian) teaching an East Asian monk. 

 

The fresco comes from the Bezeklik Thousand Buddha Caves, a complex of Buddhist cave grottos dating from the 5th to 14th century between the cities of Turpan and Shanshan (Loulan) at the north-east of the Taklamakan Desert, in the Xinjiang region of western China (the same region where the Tarim mummies were found).