Cheat Sheet: Identifying Saints Commonly Found in Art

Virgin Mary

• Colors:

  • Blue cloak (truth)

  • Red tunic (grief, suffering)

• Symbols ("Attributes"):

  • Lily (purity)

  • She usually wears a head covering

  • Book (representing the Bible - to show her piety)

  • Sometimes crowned (Queen of Heaven)

Peter

• Short curly white hair; short square white beard

• Often wears blue and gold

• Attribute: Keys (the keys to heaven)

Paul

• Brown hair, receding hairline, long brown beard

• Attributes:

  • A book (representing his New Testament writings)

  • Often wears red

  • A sword (belief is that he was beheaded or killed with a sword)

  • (And, he described Scripture as the 'sword of the Spirit')

John the Apostle/Evangelist

• Short hair and clean-shaven (the youngest apostle)

• Often misidentified as a female

• Often wears red and green

• Other than the Virgin Mary, he is the most frequently depicted saint in Crucifixion scenes

John the Baptist

• Suntanned, with unkempt hair and beard

• Often points at Jesus (his role was to announce that the Messiah had come and point the way to Him)

• Attributes:

  • Often wears an animal hide tunic

  • Often wears green

  • Sometimes has staff with a cross or a lamb