How to paint Judas

Yesterday I visited the monastery of San Marco (now a museum), an oasis of peace and easily the most spiritually uplifting site in Florence.  It is where the artist Fra Angelico lived most of his life as one of the resident Dominican Friars.  Between 1438 and 1443 he painted frescoes on the walls including one for each of the 43 monks' cells on the first floor (the only decoration in a small vaulted room).  In the corridor he painted this masterpiece of the Annunciation (I might say more about this one later but for now just enjoy):

 

One of the subjects I am interested in exploring is well illustrated in San Marco.  If all your saints have halos, including the apostles, what do you do with Judas?

Fra Angelico had a simple approach - Judas could have a halo but it would be black:

No-one likes to be different, so when he was at the sermon on the mount he took a back seat and hoped no-one would notice:

And even at the Last Supper he tries to mingle with the others:
(this picture also gives you an idea what the monks' cells are like)

Forty years later the artist Ghirlandaio painted a Last Supper for the refectory downstairs.
By then artists were exploring perspective and halos became flat gold plates that might be painted upright, in the old style, or as an elipse, almost like hats hovering above the head.  Ghirlandaio uses both in this painting but Judas doesn't get one at all.  He's not even allowed to sit on the same side of the table as everyone else.  He just gets a yellow coat (symbolising his treachery) and a profile that bears more than a passing resemblance to an evil satyr from Greek mythology.

Elsewhere in this fantastic painting there are plenty of birds and a cat (sat next to Judas - I knew they were evil!).  We'll return to more of the symbolism here later.