Goldfinch
Carduelis carduelis
The Goldfinch is an essentially granivorous bird whose scientific name expresses its relevance: Carduelis is the designation of the genus to which also the European Greenfinch and the Eurasian Siskin belong, and is the Latin term for Goldfinch.
It is an allegorical bird very portrayed in religious paintings of the Italian Renaissance, often represented in the hands of the Child Jesus, symbolizing the soul and the resurrection, but also represented as a healing augury of the plagues that ravaged Europe in the fourteenth century.
Text: João E. Rabaça