Image of the Week: Janus

© D. Yael Bernhard

My last painting of 2021 and first offering of 2022 is, appropriately, an image of the Roman god Janus.  Years ago I did a small illustration (below) of a sculpture depicting this intriguing two-faced deity for a children's book about New Year traditions all over the world.  Ever since then, I've thought about creating my own version.  

Janus looks both forward and backward in time, and governs transitions, gateways, and portals.  He was worshipped in Ancient Rome at all kinds of beginnings, such as weddings, births, planting times, and harvest.  It is from Janus that our month of January is derived.  

Roman sculptures of Janus often depict the face of the past as an old man with a long scraggly beard, and the face of the future as a clean-shaven or neatly trimmed youth.  Other versions have two identical faces.  Together they also symbolize wisdom – the wisdom conferred by bringing past and future together.  According to some sources, Janus was equal in importance to Jupiter, the king of the gods in Roman mythology.  It is ironic to ponder such reverence for timely wisdom in an empire that perished so long ago.  

Yet the past is always present, and the Roman Empire has had a profound and lasting effect on the civilizations that followed it.  The great minds of the Italian Renaissance harkened back to classical Roman art, architecture, and philosophy, even as their creations forged ahead into the future – which is now, for us, long past. 

I just painted my new version of Janus a few days ago, beginning with a lovely little piece of ochre-colored paper that I found in my paper drawer.  A mid-tone, fine-toothed surface was the perfect choice, enabling me to work both darker and lighter than the background.  I wanted the outlines to be bold and thick, like a wrought-iron bar bent into a continuous loop, and the light objects – the two eyes and the flower – to stand out.  I worked in acrylics, and finished the painting with a touch of colored pencil on top to blend the skin tones into the background.  

Most versions of Janus have the two profiles joined at the ear or the hairline, but mine overlap like a Venn diagram, with a third space in between.  This space holds the present moment, ever unfolding as a flower in continuous bloom.  I chose a lotus-like flower as a nod to Buddhism and Hinduism, two traditions that have brought the art of being present to the West in the past half century.  

To keep the painting simple and bold, I used a restricted palette, and tried to balance the colors as best I could, with orange and blue – opposites on the color wheel – in the opposing swirls of hair.  These swirls are somewhat randomly shaped, to break up the symmetry a little bit – and to loosen up my own mind, which can sometimes fixate too much on structure.  

What did it mean to the ancient Romans to have this symbol of time as a constant reminder of change?  One way or another, every tradition seems to have a way of representing impermanence.  As the great wheel of time turns, the precious and fleeting nature of life is more palpably felt each year.  I don't need to cast libations before a carved deity to keep this in mind.  Just the fact that it's been twenty-five years since my picture book illustration of Janus was published is a sobering reminder.  I look back with a bittersweet smile, and look forward with curiosity and hope.  

Wishing all my readers a healthy and happy 2022!  As you walk through the portal into the new year, may this image serve to crystallize your reflections on the past, and strengthen your intentions for the future.


D Yael Bernhard
http://dyaelbernhard.com
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