The Woman in the Yellow Dress

Negative, segregating visual characteristics were used to evoke the blindness of the Jews in not recognising the Messiah, which helped further stigmatise them. One paradigmatic example is the personification of the synagogue as a decrepit old blind woman, with a torn standard. The yellow of her dress and the banner is a negative trait: from the 13th century, this colour was associated with lies and betrayal. This is why it has been associated with Judas and, with clearly slanderous motives, with Judaism and the synagogue.