Birds of Paradise

Artists have been using peacocks in Christian and non-Christian art for centuries. Ancients believed the peacock was incapable of rot and decay therefore it became a symbol of immortality and eternal life or Paradise. It was even believed that a pair of peacocks guarded the Gates of Paradise. Renewal and the Resurrection also became associated with peacocks because male peacocks shed and regrow their plumage each spring. One of the earliest Christian representations of the peacock is from a ceiling fresco in the catacomb or tomb of Priscilla (3rd century AD Rome, Italy).