Crowley and Aziraphale as Amor Sacro e Amor Profano (Sacred and Profane Love) by Tiziano Vecellio - a thread, because I should really be studying instead of reading Good Omens again.
Despite being known as the allegory of neoplatonic love within marriage, this is one of the many cryptic Venetian paintings. Can you tell which one is the Sacred Love and which is the Profane?
Let's analyze the piece.
The lady on the left is dressed in a white, pompous dress and from the first look you could say that she represents the Sacred Love, mainly because of the color meaning purity. This can be our Aziraphale.
On the contrary, the figure on the right is naked and covered slightly only by a red drape she's wearing on her shoulder. Red is the color of lust and passion, so this is our demon Crowley.
And then there's Cupid right between them. He's mixing the waters contained inside of a sarcophagus.
Now if you know something about art you will notice many other little things about this paintings, that most won't see the first time so, please, let's have a better look.
Oh, and keep in mind our Crowley and Aziraphale while you read.
Didn't you notice that beautiful white dress?? That woman is following the latest fashion trends -- she even has gloves -- and she's looking at you directly in the eyes. Isn't that a little too pretentious for the representation of divine, pure, chaste love?
But the beautiful lady on the right is looking down and she's holding a torch right up to the sky, right up to God. She's not challenging you with her eyes, if you look better she seems like an innocent young girl, who doesn't know much about love yet.
The point is, we don't really know who is who. We don't know where the sacred ends and where the profane begins. Yes, from a first look you get an idea (the angel is good, the demon is bad) but when you *really* look everything stars to lose -- or gain -- meaning again.
Vanitas is a key expression for this painting and kinda like a memento mori (the sarcophagus) it's a waring: our existence is precarious and the passing of time is inexorable, so don't think of what the flesh needs, try to save your soul before it's to late.
But can love exist without lust, passion, greed? Can bad exist without good? There is the divine in human and human in the divine, which sounds like a mess, but that is the actual point of the painting (and maybe love in general). There's contradiction in the ineffable truth.
Aziraphale, divine love, and Crowley, carnal love, feel their emotions in a very neoplatonic way. Singularly they have a meaning, but together they gain a whole new one: they're both good and bad, sacred and profane. Together, they become divine.
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