Odds and Ends

A few small odds and ends now.

Firstly, there was this little reference to Hugh of Montgomery, 2nd Earl of Shrewsbury, as having red hair. He's known as Hugh the Red, so this isn't anything new. This passage specifically mentions red hair though.

The Welch called him Hugh Goch, because he had red Hair.

Nottinghamshire. Somersetshire - Thomas Cox (1738)

The name Goch/Coch means red in Welsh.

Finally, there's this passage about red hair from: THE WORKS OF LAURENCE STERNE (1775)

It's not especially interesting, though it does serve as another example of redhead dislike/distrust from an earlier period of history.

A friend of mine once had conceived a particular aversion to persons who had been born with red hair. He carried this strange prejudice to an extravagant length. He used to say, that he could never confide in a friend or a mistress of this complexion - for that the men were false, and women frisky.

An instance or two of this kind had determined his philosophy, with as much reason as the jockey, in an old story, had for the reverse - who having once met with a good horse, who happened to be cropt-eared, pronounced that cropt-eared horses were naturally good. - A barber too recommended white-hafted razors from the same experience.

Red hair is only a sign - if it be any sign at all - of warm or lively affections; and operates according to the ruling passion, of love, religion, ambition, play, revenge, Etc. - which differs equally both in men and women of all complexions. And I have always found more virtue in warm affections, than in lukewarm ones. - Warm passions may be tempered, but cold ones can never be brought to seeth.

Red Hair: Saint Dominic and Bernard of Clairvaux

Some red-haired saints now.

I found the following in this work: Lives of Saints with Other Feasts of the Year According to the Roman Calendar. Published in 1669, an English translation. The original by Pedro de Ribadeneira, the Spanish Jesuit and hagiographer we referenced just a few days ago, in our post about the Virgin Mary.

Firstly, we have a description of Saint Dominic (as usual, I've left the alternate spellings as is):

Saint Dominik was of a midle stature, and a most comly person, his face long, his nose bowing like a hawkes bill, his hair somewhat red, the color of his face white, his head more gray then his beard, his hair very thick, so that there was no appearance that he would become bald

I found this description echoed on Wikipedia, where it states that a Dominican nun called Cecilia Cesarini (1203-1290) described him as having "reddish hair and beard and beautiful eyes ..His hands were long and fine and his voice pleasingly resonant. He never got bald, though he wore the full tonsure, which was mingled with a few grey hairs." I'm guessing this will be the origin of the above description.

Secondly, we have a description of Bernard of Clairvaux:

in his eyes was resplendent an Angelical purity, and the simplicity of a dove. His body was so wasted and worn away, that he seemed to be nothing but skin and bones; his face was ruddie, his hair and beard red, and in his old age white, of a middle stature, rather tall then low.

Red-Hair'd Galanthis

Whilst searching out other things today I came across this passage.

From the following publication: A General Dictionary, Historical and Critical (1734)

It's a translation from Ovid's Metamorphoses. Galanthis was a servant of Alcmene, who assisted her during the birth of Heracles. She was turned into a weasel (or cat) as punishment for defying the gods. Here she's described as "Red-hair'd". Likewise, on the Wikipedia page it's stated her hair was "red-gold".

I've looked up the original text.

una ministrarum, media de plebe, Galanthis,

flava comas, aderat, faciendis strenua iussis,

'Flava comas' means blonde hair. Flava, in Latin, meaning yellow, or golden. So I'm not quite sure where the redness comes from. Though, as ever, exact meanings and context are difficult to pin down.

There are other references to Galantis, so I'll try to look those up.

[A little time later..]

I couldn't find any further references to hair colour, sadly. So, for now, we'll leave it at that.

Red Hair in Art: Franz Marc

Franz Moritz Wilhelm Marc (1880 – 1916) was a German painter and printmaker, one of the key figures of German Expressionism. He was a founding member of Der Blaue Reiter (The Blue Rider), a journal whose name later became synonymous with the circle of artists collaborating in it.

His mature works mostly are animals, and are known for bright colors. He was drafted to serve in the German Army at the beginning of World War I, and died two years later at the Battle of Verdun.

His painting Die Füchse (The Foxes) was sold in 2022 for £42,654,500.

Below, some red-haired girls and cats.

Cat with Kittens

Cats, Red and White

Cat behind a Tree

Nude with a Cat

Three Cats

Two Cats

Girl with a Cat

The Matron and the Auctioneer

In my Google Book wanderings I came across another tale of red hair. This time from the pages of The French Inquisition. A 1715 work, by the French writer René Auguste Constantin de Renneville. It's a comical account of a woman mocking a red-headed auctioneer, by likening him to Judas.

I stopp'd one Day, to see a Sale of Goods of some Person that was dead. The Auctioner was upon a Table, where he sat on a Chair to be the better heard, it was a little Fellow, his Mien bad enough, and among other Perfections had very red Hair. He had the Art of playing the Merry Andrew very aukwardly. After having knock'd down several things to divers Persons, he expos'd to Sale an Ivory Crucifix on an Ebony Cross. A Matron happen'd to be present, who had a mind to buy it. That Woman, who seem'd to be one of the meanest sort of People, however look'd very Grave, she had a Forehead Cloath, a slavering Bib instead of an Handkerchief, a large Silver Girdle about her middle, at which hung a great Bunch of Keys, a Purse, Several Bottoms of Thread, and a Case; she was tuck'd up like a Frier that goes a Questing. The Auctioner put up the Crucifix at Thrity Sols, and made a  scurvy Description of its Beauties, to enchance the Price to the Spectators. The aforesaid Matron, in a very grave manner, making the Sign of the Cross and a very low Curtesy deliberately, said 40 Sols for my good Saviour. No sooner had she spoke the word, than the Crier, advanc'd to Fifty Sols. Sixty Sols, said the Woman, for that good God, with a loud Voice, but very modestly. Four Livers, said the Crier. An Hundred Sols, answer'd the Matron, for my divine JESUS CHRIST. Six Livers, said the Crier. That Woman, without showing the least concern, took the Crucifix in her right Hand, and making the Crier kiss it. So, said she, kiss it again, and then deliver it up; I said before, that he who sold JESUS CHRIST was red hair'd, like him that was dead. All the People fell a Laughing at the Woman's Notion; only the Judas fell into a Passion. but not so great as to hang himself, when he had deliver'd it up.

The Annunciation - Mikhail Nesterov (/..plus another redheaded Jesus)

Yesterday, as I was writing the Virgin Mary article, I came across this image that caught my eye.

The Annunciation

It's from the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent (Martha and Mary Convent), a woman's convent in Moscow, and is by the artist Mikhail Nesterov. It shows Mary, wearing blue, her hair covered, being told she's to be the mother of Jesus, by the angel Gabriel.

Gabriel, in the image, appears to be female and has red hair.

Then, as I was writing this article (literally just now), I came across this image.

It's an icon on the outer front of the Marfo-Mariinsky Convent, showing a Jesus with dark red hair. (I'm not sure who the artist was.)

(This is what happens when you go down Wikipedia rabbit holes.)

Was the Virgin Mary a Redhead?

I recently came across a description of the Virgin Mary's appearance in a work titled, The Life, Death and Passion of Our Lord Jesus, by Pedro de Ribadeneira.

Ribadeneira was a Jesuit priest and hagiographer who lived from 1527 to 1611. The version I came across, (linked to above), is an English translation published in 1701.

It describes her as follows:

The Virgin was of a middle stature, though some say she was rather tall, her complexion was somewhat swart, her Hair Reddish and Golden, her Eyes Lively and Quick, the Hairs of the Eye-lids somewhat Red, the Eyebrows arched, Black, and comely: The Nose somewhat long, Vermillion Lips, most sweet in speaking, her Face rather long than round, her Hands and Fingers long, her Countenance Grave and Modest, without enticements of affectation, but simple and humble.

Obviously, 16th/17th century is hardly contemporary, and that's assuming the English translation is true. Though the text does also state..

"The Evangelist St. Luke made some Pictures of her whilst she was living, whereof there is one at this day at Rome, in the Church of Saint Mary Major, in which we may see her Feature and Fashion, and how much she resembled her Son"

I'm guessing this would be the following painting, kept in the Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore in Rome. In the image the hair is covered, though the hair of the precocious-looking Jesus does appear brown in shade. The image is said to have been "heavily overpainted" however, and according to Wikipedia, modern experts date the painting anywhere from 5th century to 13th century. So far from a living record - at least within the confines of conventional history

Salus Populi Romani

Nevertheless, it's quite an interesting description, and reminds me of the claim that, in earlier times, French witches would blaspheme the name of the Virgin Mary, by referring to her as "la Rousse" - the redhead.

Helen of Troy - Red-Haired Fresco

Red Hair News: A fresco has recently been excavated in Pompeii, showing a Helen of Troy with decidedly reddish hair.

I found out about it via a post on Facebook by Ian Cook, the author of Redhead and The Future Is Red, so there's another little red hair link. Apparently the hair of Helen of Troy was described as "Xanthe" by the ancient poetess Sappho.

https://www.royaltynowstudios.com/blog/helenoftroy

Xanthê is generally translated as meaning blonde-haired, though it also comes with overlapping connotations of red and brown. The exact meaning of these terms often difficult to pin down. We've discussed this issue on here before: What's in a colour: xanthòs

The hair in the fresco image definitely looks reddish. At least from the images we've seen shared in the media. The Helen portrayed isn't quite as red-haired (nor as moody) as our favourite red-haired Helen of Troy though..

(Helen of Troy - Frederick Sandys)

Three Shades of Jesus

A quick post today showing another red-haired image of Jesus. This one by the Flemish artist Peter Paul Rubens (1577 - 1640). The hair isn't quite the striking orange-red we've seen in other paintings, more a mousey soft red or light brown.

(The Descent from the Cross)

(The Descent from the Cross - detail)

There are also other versions of the painting. In this following one the complexion is much more ginger, though the hair is less present, and the image itself much darker.

There's likewise this version, which is part of triptych in the Cathedral of Our Lady, Antwerp, Belgium. The most famous version of the painting. In this one the hair is much less red, and would be better described as brown.

Two Famous Red-haired Italians of Today

Italy is not famous for red hair, so today I will introduce you to two famous red-haired Italians of today, who, probably, many of you never heard of.


The first is professional tennis player Jannik Sinner (born 2001). If his name doesn’t sound very Italian is only because he was born in South Tyrol, a German-speaking region in northern Italy.

Sinner began playing in professional men's events at age 16 and became one of the few players to win multiple ATP Challenger Tour titles at age 17. In 2019, he broke into the top 100, winning the Next Generation ATP Finals and the ATP Newcomer of the Year award.

In 2021, he became the youngest ATP 500 champion at the 2021 Citi Open, was a Masters runner-up at the Miami Open, and became the first player born in the 2000s to enter the top 10 in rankings. After reaching his first major semifinal at the 2023 Wimbledon Championships, Sinner won his first Masters 1000 title at the 2023 Canadian Open. He finished the season by reaching the final of the ATP Finals and contributing to Italy lifting Davis Cup for the first time after 1976. In the 2024 Australian Open, Sinner defeated world No. 1 Novak Djokovic in the semifinals to reach his first major final. He then defeated Daniil Medvedev in a five-set final, coming back from two sets down to win his first Grand Slam title.

In a recent interview, he was asked: “Today when you stroll through Italy, are you ready to embrace the shift from anonymity to becoming a sports star? Can you envision a future where the ordinary act of walking alone is a rarity?”

To which he replied: “No, I guess it’s part of what I do, no? The only issue that I have red hair, so it’s easy to recognize me (laughter).” [a problem we redheads know very well! 😁]

A young Jannik with tennis legend Novak Djokovic

 

The second redhead is Lapo Elkann (born 1977). His name too doesn’t sound typically Italian, although he belong to a very important Italian family. He is the son of Margherita Agnelli, daughter of Gianni Agnelli, former controlling CEO and controlling shareholder of Fiat Automobiles. His father is Alain Elkann, a journalist and novelist of French-Italian origins (his father, Jean-Paul Elkann, was a French industrialist, chairman of Dior and the president of the Israelite Central Consistory of France. His mother, Carla Ovazza, is from the influential Turinese Ovazza banking family).

Lapo has an older brother, John, chairman of Ferrari and Stellantis and CEO of Exor, and a younger sister, Ginevra, film producer and director.

He is the chairman, founder, and majority shareholder of the Italia Independent Group. He is also the president and founder of Garage Italia Customs and Independent Ideas,as well as a member of the board of directors of Ferrari N.V. and responsible for the promotion of the Fiat Group brand.

He is sort of the black sheep of the family. In 2005 he was hospitalised in serious conditions in the intensive care unit of the Mauriziano Hospital in Turin due to an overdose of a mix of opiates and cocaine. Subsequently, he resigned from his positions in Fiat and moved to Arizona, where he began rehabilitation therapy. In 2019, he was involved in a car accident in Tel Aviv, where he was hospitalised. After recovering from a ten-day coma, he moved to a clinic in Switzerland, and was seen on a wheelchair for a while. The accident led him to a change of lifestyle and started working with the Laps Foundation, a non-profit organisation created in 2016 in support of children with dyslexia, learning disabilities and addictions (in his childhood, he suffered from dyslexia, hyperactivity and attention deficit).

In 2021, Lapo married the Portuguese former rally raid racer Joana Lemos.

His hair is now almost totally white, but as a young man he sported a beautiful red mane and we know where part of it comes from. Gianni Agnelli's mother was the red-haired and ill-fated Virginia Bourbon del Monte.

 

Abrams and Sirens

Today I came across a Dante Gabriel Rossetti image I wasn't aware of. I was casually skimming his Wikipedia page to find a different image and this one popped out.

It's a coloured chalk illustration titled Ligeia Siren, from 1873. It's a beautiful picture. The soft colouring of the hair very warm and rich.

It was quite fitting as I was also going to post today for another reason. I recently read the Shakespeare play Coriolanus. It contained the following line:

Third Citizen: We have been called so of many; not that our heads are some brown, some black, some abram, some bald, but that our wits are so diversely coloured.

The term abram caught my eye. In the context of the sentence it suggests a hair colour other than brown or black. So red and blond are the obvious contenders. With Abram being a variant of the name Abraham, the biblical patriarch, it also brings to mind other biblical connections to red hair. Which we've noted on here numerous times before - ruddy Adam, hairy Esau, and so forth.

Having had a search online it seems to be the case that abram is a variant of auburn (also given as abron).

I came across editions of other Shakespeare plays where the term is discussed. In the following link you'll find a discussion about the line from Romeo and Juliet, "Young Abraham Cupid". Which in some editions is rendered as "Young Adam Cupid".

A New Variorum Edition of Shakespeare: Romeo and Juliet. 1871.

(Yes, variorum is a real word - I had to look it up. It's an edition of a text with notes by different people ..apparently. Don't say you don't learn anything here.)

An almost identical discussion can be found in this work. In fact, I'll quote from this one as it's a little more legible.

The Works of William Shakespeare (1875).

In Soliman and Perseda, 1599, we find,

'Where is the eldest sonne of Pryam, That abraham-coloured Troion [Trojan] ? dead.'

In Middleton's Blurt, Master Constable, 1602,

'A goodlie, long, thicke, Abhram-colour'd beard.'

In relation to that line from Coriolanus it states there's "no reason to doubt that in these passages 'abraham' (or 'Abram') is a corruption of 'abron,' i.e. 'auburn.'"

(a snippet from the text)

Here, at the end, we also get a mention that in the play Two Gentlemen of Verona auburn is used to mean yellowish.

Again, it's difficult to separate red and yellow when we look back to these historical works. With the line from Coriolanus mentioning, "..some brown, some black, some abram," yellowish would make more sense. As brown could be said to entail auburn as we would think of it - i.e. chestnut. Though it wouldn't quite cover red as in a brighter orange or ginger. Colours which likewise tend towards blond. So blond and red seem to fall under the one umbrella to some extent.

Red Hair and Erogenous Zones

Don't worry, no AI in this one, I promise.

In this post we're returning to the theme of pigmentation. Namely the relationship between eumelanin (black/brown pigment) and pheomelanin (red/yellow). Redheads tend to have higher pheomelanin relative to eumelanin. For non-redheads the ratio of eumelanin to pheomelanin is pretty similar, regardless of skin tone. So a light-skinned person will have low levels of both pigments, but in a ratio of 3:1. Likewise a darker skinned person will have higher levels of both pigments, but also in a similar ratio of 3:1. (Note: This is an over simplification, to help explain the broad concept, in reality the numbers aren't this simple.) However, for redheads the ratio of pheomelanin is higher.

So non-redheads might have 75% eumelanin and 25% pheomelanin,

Whereas for redheads it might be more like 60% eumelanin and 40% pheomelanin.

(Again, take these numbers with a pinch of salt. If you want a deeper understanding search some scientific papers on the topic.)

We've made the argument on here before that redheads are a product of 'melting pot' cultures that give rise to the conditions needed for this relatively higher pheomelanin. For example, a person may inherit lower eumelanin from their lighter-skinned ancestors, but the higher pheomelanin from their darker-skinned forebears. So, according to this theory, populations that are diverse, that have light-skinned and dark-skinned people in the gene pool, will throw up redheads due to this lottery of genetics.

(For more on this see here: Melting Pots Part III)

Sensitive Redheads.

Anyhow, the red pigment pheomelanin is also what makes other parts of the body red, like the lips, nipples and genitals. These parts of the body also tend to be very sensitive and have a lot of nerve endings. So given this it makes sense that redheads, people with higher pheomelanin in general, would also be more sensitive in general ..and this is often what's reported. That redheads are more sensitive to pain and temperature changes. That they need more anaesthetic at the dentist, and so forth.

It may also go some way in explaining the stereotype of redheads being more sexually sensitive.

Likewise, we also have the stereotype of redheaded males being viewed as more effeminate. With hair and skin colour it's often the case that fair hair is seen as feminine and dark hair as masculine - note the stereotype of the "tall, dark handsome" male and the "ditzy, blonde" female. So perhaps redheaded males get the double whammy effect. The fairness - low eumelanin - complete with the cultural perception attached to that, coupled with the heightened sensitivity caused by the higher pheomelanin. Essentially: fair + sensitive = very feminine.

Again, as noted above, things are never quite this simple in reality, and there may be factors we're not considering. However, overall, it does feel like all this ties together quite nicely, and makes sense in regard what you would expect if you turned up the genetic dial on redness.

Sleepy Red-Haired AI Art

Another experiment with AI. This time using PixVerse, which at the time of writing is free to use.

It's quite fun testing these various AI generators. Over the years red-haired art has been a recurring theme of this blog. The only problem is there's a bit of a dearth of it; the red-haired images being quite rare. So to be able to simply type "red hair" and, lo, red-haired artwork at the double is really quite something.

Of course, whether the generated clips and images can ever match artwork made by human hands is up for debate. Can such images ever have the same soul, beauty and interestingness? Or will they always just be derivative?

Personally, I feel some of the clips created by the PixVerse AI are very warm and beautiful. You could also argue that the human process of prompting the AI, then selecting out the good from the bad - the interesting from the boring - humanises and brings a soul and meaning to things. Like a very clever paintbrush that still requires human direction and response. I'm really not sure. I guess only time will tell if AI redheads can ever compete for our affections with the Pre-Raphaelite beauties we're already so fond of.

I'll share a few of the generated clips below:

For more such clips you also can check out the following video (or head to PixVerse and experiment making some of your own).

(AI Red Hair Chillout)

A Green-Eyed Witch ..And Some Elves

Another little experiment with AI art. This time using gencraft.com. Signing up for a free account gets you 10 free image prompts per day. It was fun playing around with it. All the images, along with the text prompts that inspired them, can be found over on our Twitter page. I'll share some of the more eye-catching ones below.

These two show a green eyed witch with a black cat/cats.

She looks a little bit like Kate Middleton, Princess of Wales. 

On a similar theme we also gave an image prompt for a red-haired Queen Elizabeth.

Finally, this was the image that really had me laughing. The request was for thousands of red-haired elves having a party.

This one would make a great birthday card for redheads. I'm tempted to upgrade to a paid account and start make merchandise.