... then they would have a gold halo over their heads. Colours are used an awful lot as signs. Blue means the figure is an important or religious person. Red is a sign of danger and suffering as it is the colour of blood and this is what we associate with the suffering of Christ on the cross. White symbolises purity. Gold is used regularly when depicting heaven because it shows richness and wealth, which is what people seek in life and would make them go to heaven. In the painting by Montagna entitled "Madonna and Child" Mary is clothed completely in blue apart from a thin strip of material of white material. The child is naked and is holding a goldfinch. The finch is symbolic because a bird was supposed to have plucked a thorn from Jesus' head; this species of bird has been used as a symbol because ...

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