Aureola

An aureola or aureole (diminutive of Latin aurea, "golden") is the radiance of luminous cloud which, in paintings of sacred personages, surrounds the whole figure. In the earliest periods of Christian art it was confined to the figures of the persons of the Christian Godhead, but it was afterwards extended to the Virgin Mary and to several of the saints.

The aureola, when enveloping the whole body, generally appears oval or elliptical in form, but occasionally depicted as circular, vesica piscis, or quatrefoil. When it appears merely as a luminous disk round the head, it is called specifically a halo or nimbus, while the combination of nimbus and aureole is called a glory. The strict distinction between nimbus and aureole is not commonly maintained, and the latter term is most frequently used to denote the radiance round the heads of saints, angels or Persons of the Trinity.

This is not to be confused with the specific motif in art of the Infant Jesus appearing to be a source of light in a Nativity scene. These depictions derive directly from the accounts given by Saint Bridget of Sweden of her visions, in which she describes seeing this.

Aureole (horse)

Aureole (1950–1975) was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and sire who was owned by Queen Elizabeth II. In a career which lasted from August 1952 until July 1954 he ran fourteen times and won eleven races. As a three-year-old in 1953 he won the Lingfield Derby Trial before finishing second to Pinza in both the Epsom Derby and the King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. He reached his peak as a four-year-old in 1954 when he won his last four races: the Victor Wild Stakes at Kempton, the Coronation Cup at Epsom, the Hardwicke Stakes at Royal Ascot and Britain's most prestigious all-aged race, King George VI and Queen Elizabeth Stakes. After retiring from racing he was sent to stud, where he became a successful sire of winners.

Background

Aureole was a bright chestnut horse with a white blaze and three white socks, bred by King George VI. When the King died in 1952, the ownership of the unraced two-year-old colt passed to his daughter, Queen Elizabeth II. Aureole was sired by Hyperion who won the Derby and the St Leger in 1933 before becoming a highly successful breeding stallion. He was Leading sire in Great Britain and Ireland on six occasions. Aureole's dam, Angelola, finished second in the Epsom Oaks and came from the same branch of Thoroughbred Family 2-f which produced Round Table, Highclere and Pebbles.