This is an original oil painting which hangs in the Headquarters Shrine on permanent loan from Delta Kappa Chapter, University of Delaware. Painted by Brother Elmer Paul Catts, Jr., it was completed in 1952 but was not introduced to the Fraternity-at-large until it appeared on the cover of the February 1960 Delta.
The idea for the painting grew out of a discussion among first-floor residents of the Delta Kappa chapter house one fall evening in 1949. They agreed that Sigma Nu needed a painting which would express the Fraternity symbolically and commissioned Brother Catts (then a sophomore and chapter Reporter) to undertake the project.
He began his lengthy task by listing what he thought should be included. His original sketch featured a single Knight as the central figure, with the Founders, the Rock, and the stairway or Path of Honor, much as they appear in his completed work. Later he developed the idea of using three Knights, and thereafter expanded his concept to include Candidates and ladies. He actually started the painting in July 1950, but the finishing touches were not completed until 1952, more than one hundred work hours later.
The name of the composition, "A Serpent, A Rose, and A Star," is especially appropriate, since all three of these important Sigma Nu symbols appear in that order from the lower right to the upper left of the painting.
The three Knights, each clad in armor of one of the Fraternity's colors, stand at the base of great rock (the Rock of Sigma Nu) graven with the Roman numerals of the year the fraternity was founded, 1869. The three Founders are represented by the figures atop the Rock. Above the Rock shines a bright star whose rays outline the familiar five-armed Badge of the Fraternity, and to the right in the field of white roses are three feminine figures representing those who may share the Badge: mother, sister, sweetheart. Behind them stands the Cross of Calvary, expressing the power or light of the Living God as emphasized in the Creed.
Each of the three central figures (the Three Knights) represents one section of the Creed of Sigma Nu: the Gold Knight for Love, the Black Knight signaling Honor, and the White Knight connoting Truth. Each wears an emblem whose significance is revealed only to the initiated. Each is armed with a different weapon, symbolizing the varied talents with which each member is endowed as he seeks to mold his character and make his way through life by following the Pathway of Honor.
Immediately below the Knights are three in mail, wearing hoods and each bearing a different weapon, representing the varied and diverse talents of the Candidates. The central foreground of the painting expresses man's frustrations. The gnomes depict the profane world. To the uninitiated the symbolism stops there, but to members of Sigma Nu much more may be deduced from the painting, after careful study and reflection. Each chapter should have a lithograph of the Catts painting prominently displayed on the chapter wall. They are available from the Headquarters shrine.
