{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_61896/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_61896","id":"gutenberg_61896","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/61896","summary":null,"tags":["Angels in art","Category: Art","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian art and symbolism","Painting -- Reproduction"],"text":"[Illustration: _Murillo.--Guardian Angel._]\n\n\n\n\n                             ANGELS IN ART\n\n\n\n\n                              Art Series\n\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n                          THE MADONNA IN ART\n                           ESTELLE M. HURLL.\n\n                           CHILD LIFE IN ART\n                           ESTELLE M. HURLL.\n\n                             ANGELS IN ART\n                        CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT.\n\n                              LOVE IN ART\n                          MARY KNIGHT POTTER.\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n                        L. C. PAGE AND COMPANY\n\n                            (INCORPORATED)\n\n                   196 Summer Street, Boston, Mass.\n\n\n\n\n                             ANGELS IN ART\n\n                                  BY\n                         CLARA ERSKINE CLEMENT\n\n                               AUTHOR OF\n                    \u201cA HANDBOOK OF LEGENDARY ART,\u201d\n           \u201cPAINTERS, SCULPTORS, ARCHITECTS, AND ENGRAVERS,\u201d\n                 \u201cARTISTS OF THE NINETEENTH CENTURY,\u201d\n                                 ETC.\n\n                              Illustrated\n\n                            [Illustration]\n\n                                LONDON\n                              DAVID NUTT\n                                 1899\n\n\n                            Colonial Press:\n            Electrotyped and Printed by C. H. Simonds & Co.\n                           Boston, U. S. A.\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS.\n\n\nCHAPTER                                                             PAGE\n\n   I. INTRODUCTORY                                                    11\n\n  II. ARCHANGELS--MICHAEL                                             46\n\n III. THE ARCHANGEL GABRIEL                                           84\n\n  IV. THE ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL                                          105\n\n   V. GUARDIAN ANGELS, ANGEL CHORISTERS, AND ADORING ANGELS--DEMONS\n         AND EVIL SPIRITS                                            135\n\n  VI. PICTURES OF ANGELS AS AUTHORIZED BY THE SCRIPTURES             158\n\n VII. PICTURES WHICH ILLUSTRATE BOTH SCRIPTURE AND LEGEND            203\n\nVIII. ANGELS IN PICTURES OF THE VIRGIN MARY                          223\n\n      INDEX                                                          263\n\n\n\n\nILLUSTRATIONS.\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\nMURILLO.--Guardian Angel                                   _Frontispiece_\n\nPERUGINO.--A Six-winged Cherub (from the Assumption\nof the Virgin)                                                        21\n\nFRA ANGELICO.--A Glory of Angels                                      29\n\nFRA ANGELICO.--An Angel of the Tabernacle                             37\n\nFRANCESCO ALBANI.--The Child Jesus with Angels                        43\n\nRAPHAEL.--The Archangel Michael casting Satan out\nof Heaven                                                             53\n\nGUIDO RENI.--The Archangel Michael overpowering\nSatan                                                                 63\n\nH. M\u00dcCKE.--The Translation of St. Catherine of\nAlexandria                                                            71\n\nFRA FILIPPO LIPPI.--The Annunciation of the Death\nof the Virgin Mary                                                    79\n\nFRA FILIPPO LIPPI.--A Divided Annunciation                            89\n\nALESSANDRO ALLORI.--The Annunciation                                  95\n\nFRA ANGELICO.--The Annunciation                                      101\n\nANDREA DEL SARTO.--The Archangel Raphael conducting\nthe young Tobias                                                     111\n\nGIOVANNI BILIVERTI.--The Archangel Raphael refusing\nthe Gifts of Tobias                                                  117\n\nSANDRO BOTTICELLI.--The Archangel Raphael (from\na picture of Tobias and the three Archangels)                        123\n\nFRA ANGELICO.--Angel Choristers                                      137\n\nKAULBACH.--The Angel of Peace                                        141\n\nPERUGINO.--Musical Angels                                            147\n\nFRANCESCO GRANACCI.--Angels in Adoration                             153\n\nIL SODOMA.--The Sacrifice of Abraham                                 161\n\nMELOZZO DA FORLI.--An Angel                                          173\n\nARY SCHEFFER.--The Temptation of Christ                              181\n\nSIR EDWARD BURNE-JONES.--Mary Magdalene at the\nSepulchre                                                            187\n\nFRA ANGELICO.--An Angel conducting a Soul to\nHeaven                                                               195\n\nFRA BARTOLOMMEO.--An Angel playing the Violin                        201\n\nLORENZO DI CREDI.--An Angel in Adoration                             205\n\nFRENCH.--Death staying the Hand of the Sculptor                      211\n\nROSSETTI.--The Annunciation                                          221\n\nFRANCESCO GRANACCI.--The Virgin and Angels                           225\n\nFRANCESCO FRANCIA.--A Piet\u00e0                                          233\n\nMURILLO.--The Immaculate Conception                                  237\n\nSANDRO BOTTICELLI.--Madonna and Angels                               243\n\nVAN DYCK.--The Repose in Egypt                                       251\n\nTITIAN.--The Assumption of the Virgin                                255\n\n\n\n\nANGELS IN ART.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\nINTRODUCTORY.\n\n\nAngels and archangels, cherubim and seraphim, and all the glorious hosts\nof heaven were a fruitful source of inspiration to the oldest painters\nand sculptors whose works are known to us, while the artists of our more\npractical, less dreamful age are, from time to time, inspired to\nreproduce their conceptions of the guardian angels of our race.\n\nThe Almighty declared to Job that the creation of the world was welcomed\nwith shouts of joy by \u201call the sons of God,\u201d and the story of the words\nand works of the angels written in the Scriptures--from the placing of\nthe cherubim at the east of the Garden of Eden, to the worship of the\nangel by John, in the last chapter of Revelation--presents them to us as\nheavenly guides, consolers, protectors, and reprovers of human beings.\n\nWhat study is more charming and restful than that of the angels as set\nforth in Holy Writ and the writings of the early Church? or more\ninteresting to observe than the manner in which the artists of various\nnations and periods have expressed their ideas concerning these\ncelestial messengers of God? What more fascinating, more stimulating to\nthe imagination and further removed from the exhausting tension of our\nday and generation?\n\nThe Old Testament represents the angels as an innumerable host,\ndiscerning good and evil by reason of superior intelligence, and\nwithout passion doing the will of God. Having the power to slay, it is\nonly exercised by the command of the Almighty, and not until after the\nCaptivity do we read of evil angels who work wickedness among men. In\nfact, after this time the Hebrews seem to have added much to their\nangelic theory and faith which harmonizes with the religion of the\nChaldeans, and with the teaching of Zoroaster.\n\nThe angels of the New Testament, while exempt from need and suffering,\nhave sympathy with human sorrow, rejoice over repentance of sin, attend\non prayerful souls, and conduct the spirits of the just to heaven when\nthe earthly life is ended.\n\nOne may doubt, however, if from the Scriptural teaching concerning\nangels would emanate the universal interest in their representation, and\nthe personal sympathy with it, which is commonly shared by all sorts\nand conditions of men, did they not cherish a belief--consciously or\notherwise--that beings superior to themselves exist, and employ their\nsuperhuman powers for the blessing of our race, and for the welfare of\nindividuals. Evidently Spenser felt this when he wrote:\n\n    \u201cHow oft do they their silver bowers leave,\n     And come to succor us that succor want?\n     How oft do they with golden pinions cleave\n     The flitting skies, like flying pursuivant,\n     Against foul fiends, to aid us militant?\n     They for us fight, they watch, and duly ward,\n     And their bright squadrons round about us plant,\n     And all for love, and nothing for reward!\n     Oh, why should heavenly God to men have such regard!\u201d\n\nAs early as the fourth century the Christian Church had developed a\nprofound belief in the existence of both good and evil angels,--\u201cthe\nfoul fiends\u201d and \u201cbright squadrons\u201d of Spenser\u2019s lines,--the former\never tempting human beings to sin, and the indulgence of their lower\nnatures; the latter inciting them to pursue good, forsaking evil and\npressing forward to the perfect Christian life. This faith is devoutly\nmaintained in the writings of the Fathers of the Church, in which we are\nalso taught that angelic aid may be invoked in our need, and that a\nconsciousness of the abiding presence of celestial beings should be a\nsupreme solace to human sorrow and suffering.\n\nIt remained for the theologians of the Middle Ages to exercise their\nfruitful imaginations in originating a systematic classification of the\nOrders of the Heavenly Host, and assigning to each rank its distinctive\noffice. The warrant for these discriminations may seem insufficient to\nsceptical minds, but as their results are especially manifest in the\nworks of the old masters, some knowledge of them is necessary to the\nstudent of Art; without it a large proportion of the famous religious\npictures of the world are utterly void of meaning.\n\nSpeaking broadly, this classification was based on that of St. Paul,\nwhen he speaks of \u201cthe principalities and powers in heavenly places,\u201d\nand of \u201cthrones and dominions;\u201d on the account by Jude of the fall of\nthe \u201cangels which kept not their first estate;\u201d on the triumphs of the\nArchangel Michael, and a few other texts of Scripture. Upon these\npremises the angelic host was divided into three hierarchies, and these\nagain into nine choirs.\n\nThe first hierarchy embraces seraphim, cherubim, and thrones, the first\nmention being sometimes given to the cherubim. Dionysius the\nAreopagite--to whom St. Paul confided all that he had seen, when\ntransported to the seventh heaven--accords the first rank to the\nseraphim, while the familiar hymn of St. Ambrose has accustomed us to\nsaying, \u201cTo Thee, cherubim and seraphim continually do cry.\u201d Dante gives\npreference to Dionysius as an authority, and says of him:\n\n                  \u201cFor he had learn\u2019d\n    Both this and much beside of these our orbs\n    From an eye-witness to Heaven\u2019s mysteries.\u201d\n\nThe second hierarchy includes the dominations, virtues, and powers; the\nthird, princedoms, archangels, and angels. The first hierarchy receives\nits glory directly from the Almighty, and transmits it to the second,\nwhich, in turn, illuminates the third, which is especially dedicated to\nthe care and service of the human race.\n\nFrom the third hierarchy come the ministers and messengers of God; the\nsecond is composed of governors, and the first of councillors. The\nchoristers of heaven are also angels, and the making of music is an\nimportant angelic duty.\n\nThe seraphim immediately surround the throne of God, and are ever lost\nin adoration and love, which is expressed in their very name, seraph\ncoming from a Hebrew root, meaning love. The cherubim also worship the\nCreator, and are assigned to some special duties; they are superior in\nknowledge, and the word cherub, also from the Hebrew, signifies to know.\nThrones sustain the seat of the Almighty.\n\nThe second hierarchy governs the elements and the stars. Princedoms\nprotect earthly monarchies, while archangels and angels are the agents\nof God in his dealings with humanity. The title of angel, signifying a\nmessenger, may be, and is, given to a man bearing important tidings.\nThus the Evangelists are represented with wings, and John the Baptist\nis, in this sense, an angel. The Greeks sometimes represent Christ with\nwings, and call him \u201cThe Great Angel of the Will of God.\u201d\n\nVery early in the history of Art a system of religious symbolism\nexisted, a knowledge of which greatly enhances the pleasure derived from\nrepresentations of sacred subjects. In no case was this symbolism more\ncarefully observed than in the representations of angels. The aureole or\nnimbus is never omitted from the head of an angel, and is always,\nwherever used, the symbol of sanctity.\n\nWings are the distinctive angelic symbol, and are emblematic of spirit,\npower, and swiftness. Seraphim and cherubim are usually represented by\nheads with one, two, or three pairs of wings, which symbolize pure\nspirit, informed by love and intelligence; the head is an emblem of the\nsoul, the love, the knowledge, while the wings have their usual\nsignificance.\n\nThis manner of representing the two highest orders of angels is very\nancient, and in the earliest instances in existence the faces are human,\nthoughtful, and mature. Gradually they became child-like, and were\nintended to express innocence, and later they degenerated into absurd\nlittle baby heads, with little wings folded under the chin. These in no\nsense convey the original, spiritual significance of the seraphic and\ncherubic head.\n\nThe first Scriptural mention of cherubim with wings occurs after the\ndeparture of the Israelites from Egypt, Exodus xxv., 20: \u201cAnd the\ncherubim shall stretch forth their wings on high, covering the mercy\nseat.\u201d Isaiah gives warrant for six wings, as frequently represented in\nArt, and so vividly described by Milton:\n\n    \u201cA seraph winged; six wings he wore to shade\n     His lineaments divine; the pair that clad\n     Each shoulder broad, came mantling o\u2019er his breast\n\n[Illustration: PERUGINO.--A SIX-WINGED CHERUB. (FROM THE ASSUMPTION OF\nTHE VIRGIN.)]\n\n    With regal ornament; the middle pair\n    Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round\n    Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold\n    And colors dipp\u2019d in heaven; the third, his feet\n    Shadow\u2019d from either heel with feather\u2019d mail,\n    Sky-tinctured grain.\u201d\n\nIn Ezekiel we read that \u201ctheir wings were stretched upward when they\nflew; when they stood they let down their wings.\u201d There is, no doubt,\nScriptural authority for representing angels\u2019 wings in the most\nrealistic manner, since Daniel says \u201cthey had wings like a fowl.\u201d Is it\nnot more desirable, however, to see angel-wings rather than bird-wings?\nThe more devout and imaginative artists succeeded in overcoming the\ncommonplace in this regard by various devices. For example, Orcagna, in\nthe Campo Santo at Pisa, makes the bodies of his angels to end in\ndelicate wings instead of legs; in some old pictures the wings fade into\na cloudy vapor, or burst into flames. In one of Raphael\u2019s frescoes in\nthe Vatican, we see fiery cherubs, their hair, wings, and limbs ending\nin glowing flames, while their faces are full of spirit and\nintelligence. Certainly, if anywhere purely impressionist painting is\nacceptable and fitting, it is in the portrayal of heavenly wings.\n\nMrs. Jameson, in writing of this subject, says, \u201cInfinitely more\nbeautiful and consistent are the nondescript wings which the early\npainters gave their angels: large,--so large that, when the glorious\ncreature is represented as at rest, they droop from the shoulders to the\nground; with long, slender feathers, eyed sometimes like the peacock\u2019s\ntrain, bedropped with gold like the pheasant\u2019s breast, tinted with azure\nand violet and crimson, \u2018Colors dipp\u2019d in Heaven,\u2019--they are really\nangel-wings, not bird-wings.\u201d\n\nIt is interesting to note that wings were used by the artists of\nancient Egypt, Babylon, Nineveh, and Etruria as symbols of might,\nmajesty, and divine beauty.\n\nThe representation of great numbers of angels, surrounding the Deity,\nthe Trinity, or the glorified Virgin, is known as a Glory of Angels, and\nis most expressive and poetical when \u00e6sthetically portrayed. A Glory,\nwhen properly represented, is composed of the hierarchies of angels in\ncircles, each hierarchy in its proper order. Complete Glories, with nine\ncircles, are exceedingly rare. Many artists contented themselves with\ntwo or three, and sometimes but a single circle, thus symbolizing the\nsymbol of the Glory.\n\nThe nine choirs of angels are represented in various ways when not in a\nGlory, and are frequently seen in ancient frescoes, mosaics, and\nsculptures. Sometimes each choir has three figures, thus symbolizing the\nTrinity; again, two figures stand for each choir, and occasionally nine\nfigures personate the three hierarchies; in the last representation\ncareful attention was given to colors as well as to symbols.\n\nThe Princedoms and Powers of Heaven are represented by rows and groups\nof angels, all wearing the same dress and the same tiara, and bearing\nthe orb of sovereignty and wands like sceptres.\n\nOne of the most important elements in the proper painting of seraphs and\ncherubs was the use of color, while greater freedom was permitted in the\nportrayal of other angelic orders. In a Glory, for example, the inner\ncircle should be glowing red, the symbol of love; the second, blue, the\nemblem of light, which again symbolizes knowledge.\n\nAngelic symbolism in its purity makes the \u201cblue-eyed seraphim\u201d and the\n\u201csmiling cherubim\u201d equally incorrect, since the seraph should be\nglowing with divine love, and the face of the cherub should be\nexpressive of serious meditation,--as Milton says, \u201cthe Cherub\nContemplation.\u201d The familiar cherubim beneath Raphael\u2019s famous Madonna\ndi San Sisto, in the Dresden Gallery, are exquisite illustrations of\nthis thoughtfulness.\n\nThe colors of the oldest pictures, of the illuminated manuscripts, the\nstained glass, and the painted sculptures were most carefully\nconsidered. Gradually, however, the color law was less faithfully\nobserved, until, at the end of the fifteenth and the beginning of the\nsixteenth centuries, it was not unusual to see the wings of cherubim in\nvarious colors, while cherub heads were represented as floating in\nclouds with no apparent wings.\n\nTwo pictures of world-wide fame illustrate this change,--Raphael\u2019s\nMadonna, mentioned above, and Perugino\u2019s Coronation of the Virgin. In\nthe first, the entire background is composed of seraphs and cherubs\napparently evolved from thin blue air, and in constant danger of\ndisappearing in the golden-tinted background. In the second, the\nmulti-colored wings of the floating cherubim are beautiful and the\nharmony of tones is exquisite, but they represent an innovation to which\none must become more and more accustomed as artists are less reverent in\ntheir work.\n\nThe five angelic choirs which follow the seraphim and cherubim are not\nfamiliar to us in works of art, although they were painted with great\naccuracy in the words of the medi\u00e6val theologians.\n\nWhen archangels are represented merely as belonging to their order, and\nnot in their distinctive offices, they are in complete armor, and bear\nswords with the points upwards, and sometimes a trumpet also.\n\n[Illustration: FRA ANGELICO.--A GLORY OF ANGELS.]\n\nAngels are robed, and are represented in accordance with the work in\nwhich they are engaged. Strictly speaking, the wand is the angelic\nsymbol, but must be frequently omitted, as when the hands are folded in\nprayer, or musical instruments are in use, and in a variety of other\noccupations.\n\nAll angels are said to be masculine. They are represented as having\nhuman forms and faces, young, beautiful, perfect, with an expression of\nother-worldliness. They are created beings, therefore not eternal, but\nthey are never old, and should not be infantile. Such representations as\ncan be called infant angels should symbolize the souls of regenerate\nmen, or the spirits of such as die in infancy,--those of whom Jesus said\nthat \u201cin heaven their angels do always behold the face of my Father.\u201d\n\nAngels are changeless; for them time does not exist; they enjoy\nperpetual youth and uninterrupted bliss. To these qualities should be\nadded an impression of unusual power, wisdom, innocence, and spiritual\nlove.\n\nIn the earliest pictures of angels the drapery was ample, and no unusual\nattitudes, no insufficient robes, nor unsuitable expression was seen in\nsuch representations so long as religious art was at its best.\n\nWhite should be the prevailing color of angelic drapery, but delicate\nshades of blue, red, and green were frequently employed with wonderful\neffect. The Venetians used an exquisite pale salmon color in the drapery\nof their angels; but no dark or heavy colors are seen in the robes of\nangels in the pictures of the old Italian masters. The early German\npainters, however, affected angelic draperies of such vast expanse and\nweighty coloring, embroidery, and jewels, that apparently their angels\nmust perforce descend to earth, and never hope to rise again without a\nchange of toilet.\n\nI shall presently speak of angels in their offices of messengers,\nguardians, choristers, and comforters. At present I am thinking of the\nmultitudes of angels which were introduced into early religious pictures\nto indicate a \u201ccloud of witnesses.\u201d They lend an element of beauty and\nof spiritual emotion to the scenes honored with their presence. Their\neffectiveness has appealed to many Christian architects who have fully\nprofited by the example of Solomon, who \u201ccarved all the walls of the\nhouse--temple--with carved figures of cherubim,\u201d and he made the doors\nof olive-tree, and he carved on them figures of cherubim.\n\nIn the same manner, in many old churches, angels carved in marble,\nstone or wood, and painted on glass, in frescoes on walls, and in\nsmaller pictures, fill all spaces, and are everywhere beautiful. So\nlong, however, as the stricter theological observances prevailed, angels\nwere not permitted as mere decorations, but were so placed as to\nillustrate some solemn and significant portion of the belief and\nteaching of the Church.\n\nAngels were only second to the persons of the Trinity at this period,\nand preceded the Evangelists. They were represented as surrounding\ndivine beings, and the Virgin Enthroned, or in Glory.\n\nWhat was known as a Liturgy of Angels was most effective and beautiful.\nIt consisted of a procession of angels on each side of the choir,\napparently approaching the altar, all wearing the stole and alba of a\ndeacon, and bearing the implements of the mass. The statues of kneeling\nangels, not infrequently placed on each side the altar, holding tapers,\nor the emblems of the Passion of Christ, were not mere decorations, but\nsymbolized the angelic presence wherever Christ is worshipped. In short,\neither processions or single figures of angels, in any part of a church,\nand apparently approaching the altar, are symbols of the glorious hosts\nof heaven who evermore praise God.\n\nDuring the first three centuries of Christianity the representation of\nangels was not permissible, and it is interesting to observe the crude\nand curious manner in which they were pictured in the illuminated\nmanuscripts and the mosaics of the fifth century. Indeed, until the\ntenth century the angels in Art were curiously formed, and more\ncuriously draped.\n\nGiotto first approached the ideal representation of angels, and,\nnaturally, his pupils excelled him in their conception of what these\ncelestial beings should be. It was, however, Angelico who first--and\nshall we not say last?--succeeded in portraying absolutely unearthly\nangels,--angels who must have appeared to him in his holy dreams, and\nimpressed themselves on his pure spirit in such a wise that with mere\npaints and brushes he could picture a superhuman purity.\n\nNot an angel of Angelico\u2019s resembles any man, while in the angels of\nother masters, beautiful, seraphic, and charming as they may be, we\noften fancy that we see a beautiful boy, or a happy child, who might\nhave served the artist as an angel-making model.\n\nWonderfully celestial as Angelico\u2019s angels seem to be, they are\nfeminine, almost without exception. In his time this criticism was held\nto be a serious one; but since angels are sexless,--according to the\nreligious teaching on which this\n\n[Illustration: FRA ANGELICO.--AN ANGEL OF THE TABERNACLE.]\n\nspiritually-minded monk relied,--I fail to see ground for disapprobation\nof his work.\n\nThe angels of Giotto and Benozzo Gozzoli, with all their beauty, are\nalso feminine, while the great Michael Angelo, whose angels have not yet\nattained to wings, failed to represent such celestial beings as one\nwould choose as personal attendants.\n\nLeonardo\u2019s angels almost grin; Correggio reproduced the lovely children\nwho did duty as his angels; almost the same may be said of Titian; while\nin the pictures by Francesco Albani, Guido Reni, and the Caracci, the\nangels are simply attractive and even elegant boys, as may be seen in\nour illustration of the child Jesus with angels, by Albani. It is so\ndifficult to distinguish the angels of some artists from their cupids,\nthat one can only decide between them by learning the titles of their\npictures. These are characteristics of the works of these masters as a\nwhole, with rare exceptions, rather than of single pictures.\n\nTo whom, then, may one look for satisfactory angels? For myself, I\nanswer, to Raphael, and especially to his later works. His angels are\nsexless, spiritual, graceful, and, at the same time, the personification\nof intelligence and power, as may be seen in our illustration of the\nArchangel Michael. Witness also the three angels in the Expulsion of\nHeliodorus from the Temple, in the Stanza della Signatura, in the\nVatican. They are without wings, and none are needed to emphasize their\ngodlike wrath against the thief who robbed the widow and orphan in the\nvery temple of the Most High. The celestial warrior on his celestial\nsteed,--believed to be St. Michael, in his office of Protector of the\nHebrews,--the deadly mace drawn back ready to strike the fallen robber,\nand his two rapidly gliding attendants, with streaming hair and swift,\nspirit-like movement, are such conceptions and personifications of\nsuperhuman power as can scarcely be paralleled in any other work of Art.\n\nRembrandt, too, painted wonderful angels. No adjective ordinarily\napplied to such pictures is suited to these. They are poetical,\nunearthly apparitions, and once studied, can no more be forgotten than\ncan some of Dante\u2019s and Shakepeare\u2019s immortal lines.\n\nModern artists have, speaking generally, wisely followed the examples of\nold masters in their treatment of angels. The poet Blake, however, is a\nnotable exception to this rule. He painted angels that surely \u201csing to\nheaven,\u201d while they float upon the air which their diaphanous drapery\nscarcely displaces, and seem about to vanish and become a portion of\nthe ether which surrounds them.\n\nI cannot better close this chapter than by quoting what Mr. Ruskin\nwrites of the earlier and later representations of angels.\n\nHe says of the earlier pictures that there is \u201ca certain confidence in\nthe way in which angels trust to their wings, very characteristic of a\nperiod of bold and simple conception. Modern science has taught us that\na wing cannot be anatomically joined to a shoulder; and, in proportion\nas painters approach more and more to the scientific, as distinguished\nfrom the contemplative state of mind, they put the wings of their angels\non more timidly, and dwell with greater emphasis on the human form, with\nless upon the wings, until these last become a species of decorative\nappendage,--a mere _sign_ of an angel.\n\n\u201cBut in Giotto\u2019s time an angel was a\n\n[Illustration: FRANCESCO ALBANI.--THE CHILD JESUS WITH ANGELS.]\n\ncomplete creature, as much believed in as a bird, and the way in which\nit would, or might, cast itself into the air, and lean hither and\nthither on its plumes, was as naturally apprehended as the manner of\nflight of a chough or a starling.\n\n\u201cHence, Dante\u2019s simple and most exquisite synonym for angel, \u2018Bird of\nGod;\u2019 and hence, also, a variety and picturesqueness in the expression\nof the movements of the heavenly hierarchies by the earlier painters,\nill-replaced by the powers of foreshortening and throwing naked limbs\ninto fantastic positions, which appear in the cherubic groups of later\ntimes.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\nARCHANGELS.\n\nSAINT MICHAEL.\n\n\nThe archangels alone have names, and being known to us by them, as well\nas in connection with certain important events in heaven and on earth,\nwe involuntarily think of them with a more intimate and, at the same\ntime, a more reverent and sympathetic feeling than we can possibly have\nfor the numberless nameless angels of the heavenly choir.\n\nIn works of Art, these last are always beautiful, always smiling, and\never ready to appear in greater or lesser numbers whenever any notable\nreligious event is taking place, thus apparently justifying those who\nbelieve that we are always surrounded by these celestial beings. They\nare a most decorative audience of witnesses, and when they are playing\nupon their musical instruments, or with open lips and upturned,\nrapturous eyes are singing praises to God, they contribute an enchanting\nelement to the representation.\n\nBut the story of the archangels and their wonderful deeds, as told in\nScripture and in the sacred legends, impresses us with a vivid sense of\ntheir marvellous power and wisdom, as well as of their tender sympathy\nfor the human beings whom they protected and served in their office of\nguardians and defenders. The official duties that have been assigned\nthem by the theologians have the effect of giving them a place, so to\nspeak, in which we may think of them; and this serves to make them more\npositively existent to our minds than other angels are. In comparison\nwith such a personality as we must involuntarily give to St. Michael,\nthe hovering, musical angels are so intangible, such veritable airy\nvisions, that they elude all practical thought of them, and appear to be\nevolved upon occasion from the air into which they vanish.\n\nMichael (like unto God) is the captain-general and leader of the\nheavenly host; the protector of the Hebrew nation, and the conqueror of\nthe hosts of hell; the lord and guardian of souls, and the patron saint\nand prince of the Church militant. His attributes are the sceptre, the\nsword, and the scales.\n\nGabriel (God is my strength) is the guardian of the celestial treasury;\na bearer of important messages; the angel of the Annunciation, and the\npreceptor of the Patriarch Joseph. His symbol is the lily.\n\nRaphael (the medicine of God) is the chief of guardian angels, and was\nthe conductor of the young Tobias. He bears the staff and gourd of a\npilgrim.\n\nUriel (the light of God) is regent of the sun, and was the teacher of\nEsdras. His symbols are a roll and book.\n\nChamuel (one who sees God) is believed by some to be the angel who\nwrestled with Jacob, and who appeared to Christ during the agony in the\ngarden. Others believe the latter to have been Gabriel. Chamuel bears a\ncup and staff.\n\nJophiel (the beauty of God) is the guardian of the Tree of Knowledge,\nwho drove Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden; the protector of seekers\nfor truth; the preceptor of the sons of Noah; the enemy of those who\npursue vain knowledge. His attribute is a flaming sword.\n\nZadkiel (the righteousness of God) is sometimes said to have stayed the\nhand of Abraham from the sacrifice of Isaac, while others believe this\nto have been the work of Michael. The sacrificial knife is the symbol of\nZadkiel.\n\nWhen the archangels are represented merely as such, without reference to\ntheir distinctive offices, they are in complete armor, holding swords\nwith the points upwards, and sometimes bearing trumpets also. They are\nof a twofold nature, since they are powers, as are the princedoms, and\nfulfil the duties of messengers and ministers, as do the angels.\n\nAlthough each of the seven archangels has been many times represented in\nworks of Art, I know of no example in which they are seen together, and\ncan be distinguished by name. There are occasional instances of the\nrepresentation of seven angels, blowing trumpets, which are intended to\nillustrate the text in Revelation, \u201cAnd I saw the seven angels which\nstand before God, and to them were given seven trumpets.\u201d\n\nIn pictures of the crucifixion, and of the Virgin with the body of her\ndead son,--known as the Piet\u00e0,--the instruments of the Passion are\nfrequently borne by seven angels, and the same number appear in pictures\nof the last judgment. But as neither the Eastern or Western Church\nacknowledged the seven archangels, it is probable that these pictures\nrepresent the angels of Revelation.\n\nA most interesting example of artistic symbolism is seen in a picture\npainted in 1352 by Taddeo Gaddi, and now in the Church of Santa Maria\nNovella, in Florence. Here seven angels attend on St. Thomas Aquinas,\nand bear the symbols of the distinguished virtues of this reverend and\nlearned saint. The symbols are a church--Religion; a crown and\nsceptre--Power; a book--Knowledge; a cross and shield--Faith; an olive\nbranch--Peace; flames of fire--Piety and Charity; and a lily--Purity.\n\nThe Hebrews believed that Michael, Gabriel, Raphael, and Uriel sustain\nthe throne of God. The first three are reverenced as saints in the\nCatholic Church; and their divine achievements and celestial beauty have\nbeen a fruitful inspiration to painters and sculptors, resulting in the\ncreation of many immortal works of art.\n\nThe Archangel Michael is reverenced as the first and mightiest of all\ncreated beings. He was worshipped by the Chaldeans, and the Gnostics\ntaught that he was the leader of the seven angels who created the\nuniverse. After the Captivity the Hebrews regarded him as all that is\nimplied by the Prophet Daniel when he\n\n[Illustration: RAPHAEL.--THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL CASTING SATAN OUT OF\nHEAVEN.]\n\nsays, \u201cMichael, the great prince which standeth for the children of thy\npeople.\u201d It is believed that he will be privileged to exalt the banner\nof the Cross on the Judgment Day, and to command the trumpet of the\narchangel to sound; it is on account of these offices that he is called\nthe \u201cBannerer of Heaven.\u201d\n\nAs captain of the heavenly host, it devolved on Michael to conquer\nLucifer and his followers, and to expel them from heaven after their\nrefusal to worship the Son of Man; and terrible was the punishment he\ninflicted on them. Chained in mid-air, where they must remain until the\nJudgment Day, they behold all that happens on earth. Man, whom they\ndisdained, has flourished in their sight, and wields a power that they\nmay well envy, while the souls of the redeemed constantly ascend to the\nheaven which is closed to them. Thus are they constantly tormented by\nhate, and a desire for revenge, of which they must ever despair.\n\nSt. Michael is represented in art as young and severely beautiful. In\nthe earliest pictures his drapery is always white and his wings of many\ncolors, while his symbols, indicating that his conquests are made by\nspiritual force alone, are a lance terminating in a cross, or a sceptre.\nLater, it became the custom to represent him in a costume and with such\nemblems as indicated the nature of the work in which he was engaged; and\nexcept for the wings, his picture might often be mistaken for that of a\ncelestially radiant knight, since he is clothed in armor, and bears a\nsword, shield, and lance. But his seraphic wings and his bearing mark\nhim as a mighty spiritual power; and this impression is increased rather\nthan lessened, when in all humility he is in the act of worship before\nthe Divine Infant, or stands in reverent attitude near the Madonna, as\nif to guard her and her heaven-sent son.\n\nWhen conquering Satan the treatment is varied, but the subject is easily\nrecognized. More frequently than otherwise, the archangel stands on the\ndemon, who is half human and half dragon, wearing a suit of mail, and is\nabout to pierce the evil spirit with a lance or bind him in chains.\n\nSuch pictures date from the earliest attempts in religious painting, and\nthe same subject was represented in ancient sculpture. Some of these\nworks are so crude as to be absurd, but for their manifest reverence and\nsincerity. An early sculpture in the porch of the Cathedral of Cortona,\nprobably dating from the seventh century, presents the archangel in\nlong, heavy robes, reaching to his feet; he stands solidly on the back\nof the dragon, and as if to make the footing more secure, the beast\ncurls his tail in air and lifts his head as high as possible, holding\nhis mouth wide open, into which St. Michael presses his lance without a\nstruggle. The whole effect is that of some calm and commonplace\noccurrence, and is in striking contrast with the spirit of the conflict\nwhich is represented, as well as with the superhuman combat depicted by\nlater artists.\n\nThe dragon is personified by a variety of horrible reptilian forms. Some\nartists even attempted to follow the apocalyptic description. \u201cFor their\npower is in their mouth, and in their tails: for their tails were like\nunto serpents, and had heads, and with them they do hurt.\u201d\n\nLucifer is not always alone, but is sometimes surrounded by demons, who\ncrouch with him at the feet of St. Michael, before whom a company of\nangels kneel in adoration.\n\nDuring the sixteenth century the pictures of this archangel took on the\nmilitary aspect, to which I have referred, and but for the wings would\nhave represented St. George, or a Crusader of the Cross, as suitably as\nthe great Warrior Angel.\n\nAn exquisite small picture of this type, now in the Academy at Florence,\nwas painted by Fra Angelico. The lance and shield and the lambent flame\nabove the brow are the only emblems; the latter symbolizing spiritual\nfervor. The rainbow-tinted wings are raised and fully spread, meeting\nabove and behind the head; the armor is of a rich dark red and gold. The\npose and the expression of the countenance indicate the reserved power\nand the godlike tranquillity of the celestial warrior, and fitly\nrepresent him as the patron of the Church Militant.\n\nThe representations of St. Michael conquering Lucifer are so numerous\nand so interesting technically, that any adequate account of them and\nof their artistic and theological development would fill a volume, and\nmight be considered rather tiresome. I shall speak especially of two\nexamples which are very generally accepted as the most satisfactory of\nthem all.\n\nThe first, painted by Raphael when at his best, is in the Louvre. It was\na commission from Lorenzo dei Medici, who presented it to Francis I. The\nsubject was doubtless chosen by Raphael as a compliment to the\nsovereign, who was the Grand Master of the Order of St. Michael, the\nmilitary patron saint of France.\n\nIt was painted on wood, and sent with three other pictures, packed on\nmules, to Fontainebleau, where Lorenzo was visiting, in May, 1518. The\npicture was somewhat injured on the journey. In 1773 it was transferred\nto canvas, and \u201crestored\u201d three years later, but at the beginning of\nthis century the restorations were removed. We must believe that the\npicture has suffered from these chances and changes, but the fact\nremains that it is still a glorious work by a great master.\n\nThe beautiful young angel does not stand upon the fiend beneath him,\nbut, poised in air, he lightly touches with his foot the shoulder of the\ndemon in vulgar human form, fiery in color, having horns and a serpent\u2019s\ntail. The expression of the angel is serious, calm, majestic, as he\ngazes down upon the writhing Satan, whose face, as he struggles to raise\nit, is full of malignant hate. This detail is lost in the black and\nwhite reproductions.\n\nMichael grasps the lance with both hands, and so natural is the action,\nso easy and graceful, that the beholder instinctively waits to see the\nweapon do its work, while flames rise from the earth as if impatient to\nengulf the disgusting demon. The head of the angel, with its light,\nfloating hair is against the background of the brilliant wings, in which\nblue, gold, and purple are gloriously mingled; his armor is gold and\nsilver; a sword hangs by his side, and an azure scarf floats from his\nshoulders. His legs are bare, and his feet shod with buskins, which\nleave the toes uncovered. The contrast between the exquisite, angelic\nflesh tints, rosy in hue, and the brown coloring of the demon,\neffectively emphasizes the beauty of purity and the loathsomeness of\nevil.\n\nThe St. Michael of Guido Reni so closely resembles that of Raphael in\ngeneral treatment, that it is more nearly just to compare these works\nthan is usually the case with pictures of the same subject by different\nmasters. The attitude of Guido\u2019s saint is like that of a dancing-master\nwhen contrasted with the pose of Raphael\u2019s,\n\n[Illustration: GUIDO RENI.--THE ARCHANGEL MICHAEL OVERPOWERING SATAN.]\n\nand his demon is simply low and base, devoid of malignity or any supreme\nevil.\n\nBut the head and face of Guido\u2019s Michael make his picture wonderful;\nthey adequately express divine purity and beauty, while the studied and\nfictitious qualities of Guido\u2019s art--here at their best--serve to\nenhance the exquisite effect of this angelic warrior, and the picture is\njustly esteemed as one of the treasures of the Cappucini at Rome.\n\nOutside of Italian art, the St. Michael of Martin Schoen is well worth\nnotice. The figure is fully draped in a long, flowing robe and mantle;\nthe pose is most graceful, and the bearing of the angel dignified and\nunruffled. The demon is made up of fins, a savage mouth, and numerous\nclaws with which to seize its victims; an entirely emblematic and most\nrepulsive figure.\n\nThere are occasional pictures of the \u201cFall of the Angels,\u201d in which St.\nMichael contends against the entire company of rebellious spirits. These\nare illustrative of the text, \u201cWhen Michael and his angels fought\nagainst the dragon, and the dragon fought and his angels, and the great\ndragon was cast out.\u201d\n\nThe painting of such a picture at Arezzo, about 1400, caused the death\nof Spinello d\u2019Arezzo, whose mind so dwelt upon the demons he had painted\nthat he went mad, and fancied that Lucifer appeared to him, and cursed\nhim for having represented the fiend and his angels in so revolting a\nmanner. The horror of the artist induced a fever of which he died.\n\nThe smaller of the two pictures of this subject by Rubens, in Munich, is\nesteemed a miracle of art. It displays the inventive power of the great\nFlemish master in a wonderful _tour de force_, for the rebel angels are\nnot fallen, but falling, and tumbling headlong out of heaven, down,\ndown,--in such confusion and affright as only Rubens could portray.\n\nIn some cases Raphael and Gabriel are represented as witnesses of the\ncombat between Michael and Lucifer. To my taste, these figures, with\ntheir abundant white draperies, detract from the simplicity and dignity\nof this impressive scene. Not only these archangels, but apostles and\nsaints are sometimes introduced, in spite of the evident anachronism, as\nobservers of this great spiritual struggle, while hosts of angels are\nabove and around the picture.\n\nIn short, the representations of this subject, in one form and another,\nare almost numberless, and can scarcely be too many, when they are\nregarded as embodying the great truth of the spiritual triumph over\nevil.\n\nMrs. Jameson says: \u201cThis is the secret of its perpetual repetition, and\nthis the secret of the untired complacency with which we regard it ...\nand if to this primal moral significance be added all the charm of\npoetry, grace, animated movement, which human genius has lavished on\nthis ever-blessed, ever-welcome symbol, then, as we look up at it, we\nare \u2018not only touched, but wakened and inspired,\u2019 and the whole\ndelighted imagination glows with faith and hope, and grateful triumphant\nsympathy,--so, at least, I have felt, and I must believe that others\nhave felt it, too.\u201d\n\nThe representations of St. Michael as the Lord of Souls are less\nnumerous than those of the subjects just mentioned, but are very\ninteresting. In some votive pictures he appears as the protector of\nthose who have struggled with evil, and gained a victory. In such\npictures the angel has his foot upon the dragon, or holds a dragon\u2019s\nhead in his hand, and bears the banner of victory.\n\nAgain, Michael is represented with his scales engaged in weighing the\nsouls of the dead; in such pictures he is unarmed, and bears a sceptre\nending in a cross. The souls are typified by little naked human figures;\nthe accepted spirits usually kneel in the scales, with hands clasped as\nin prayer; the attitude of the rejected souls expresses horror and\nagony, which is sometimes emphasized by the figure of a demon, impatient\nfor his prey, who reaches out his talons, or his devil\u2019s fork, to seize\nthe doomed spirits.\n\nLeonardo da Vinci represented the angel as presenting the balance to the\nInfant Jesus, who has the air of blessing the pious soul in the upper\nscale. Signorelli, about 1500, painted a picture of this subject, which\nis in the church of San Gregorio at Rome, in which the archangel, in a\nsuit of mail, stands with his wings spread out, and the balance with\nfull scales held above a fierce, open-mouthed dragon. The lance of the\narchangel has pierced through the under jaw of the beast and entered his\nbody, making an ugly wound, and a hideous little demon, resting on his\ntiny black wings, is clutching the condemned spirits in the lower scale.\n\nIn pictures of the Assumption or Glorification of the Virgin, if St.\nMichael is present, it is in his office of Lord of Souls, as the legends\nof the Madonna teach that he received her spirit, and guarded it until\nit was again united with her sinless form.\n\nAs Lord of Souls it is taught that St. Michael conducted the spirits of\nthe just to heaven, and even cared for their bodies in some instances.\nThe legend of St.\n\n[Illustration: H. M\u00dcCKE.--THE TRANSLATION OF ST. CATHERINE OF\nALEXANDRIA.]\n\nCatherine of Alexandria teaches that her body was borne by angels over\nthe desert and sea to the top of Mount Sinai, where it was buried; and\nlater a monastery was built over her sepulchre. In the picture of the\n\u201cTranslation of St. Catherine,\u201d which we give, St. Michael is one of the\nfour celestial bearers of the martyr saint.\n\nIn rare instances St. Michael was represented without wings. Such a\nfigure standing on a dragon is a St. George, unless the balance is\nintroduced. When the archangel stands upon the dragon with the balance\nin his hand, he appears in his double office as Conqueror of Satan and\nLord of Souls. Memorial chapels and tombs were frequently decorated with\nthis subject, a notable instance being that on the tomb of Henry VII.,\nin Westminster Abbey.\n\nIn pictures of the Last Judgment, St. Michael is sometimes seen in the\nvery act of weighing souls, and, although I have nowhere found this\nexplanation, it has seemed to me that the souls being thus weighed at\nthe last hour should symbolize those of whom St. Paul said, \u201cWe shall\nnot all sleep, but we shall all be changed, in a moment, in the\ntwinkling of an eye, at the last trump: for the trumpet shall sound, and\nthe dead shall be raised incorruptible, and we shall be changed.\u201d\n\nSince the Archangel Michael was made the guardian of the Hebrew nation,\nhe was naturally an important actor in many scenes connected with their\nhistory. It was he who succored Hagar in the wilderness (Genesis xxi.,\n17), who appeared to restrain Abraham from the sacrifice of Isaac\n(Genesis xxii., 11). He brought the plagues on Egypt and led the\nIsraelites on their journey. The Jews and early Christians believed\nthat God spake through the mouth of Michael in the Burning Bush, and by\nhim sent the law to Moses on Mount Sinai. When Satan would have entered\nthe body of Moses, in order to personate the prophet and deceive the\nJews, it was Michael who contended with the Evil One, and buried the\nbody in an unknown place, as is distinctly stated by Jude. Signorelli\nchose this as the subject of one of his frescoes in the Sistine Chapel,\nand I have seen no other representation of it, although I believe that a\nfew others exist.\n\nIt was Michael who put blessings instead of curses into Balaam\u2019s mouth\n(Numbers xxii., 35), who was with Joshua in the plain of Jericho (Joshua\nv., 13), who appeared to Gideon (Judges vi., 2), and delivered the three\nfaithful Jews from the fiery furnace (Daniel iii., 25). This last\nsubject is one of the earliest in Christian art, and was a symbol of\nthe redemption of man by Jesus Christ. There are still other like\noffices which St. Michael filled as the protector of the Jews, while\nseveral important works are attributed to him in the Apochrypha and in\nthe Legends of the Church.\n\nFor example, in the apochryphal story of Bel and the Dragon, it is\nrelated that when King Cyrus had thrown the prophet Daniel into the\nlions\u2019 den, and he had been six days without food, the angel of the Lord\nappeared to the prophet Habakkuk in Jewry, when he had prepared a mess\nof potage for the reapers in his field, and the angel commanded Habakkuk\nto carry the potage to Babylon and give it to Daniel.\n\n\u201cThen Habakkuk said, \u2018Lord, I never saw Babylon; neither do I know where\nthe den is.\u2019 Then the angel of the Lord took Habakkuk by the hair of his\nhead, and set him in Babylon over the lions\u2019 den; and Habakkuk cried,\nsaying, \u2018O Daniel, Daniel, take the dinner which God hath sent\nthee,\u2019--and the angel again set Habakkuk in his own place.\u201d\n\nAt one period this subject was represented on sarcophagi; but I have\nonly seen it in prints after the Flemish artist, Hemshirk.\n\nIn the legends of St. Michael we read that in the sixth century, when\nthe plague was raging in Rome, and processions threaded the streets\nchanting the service since known as the Great Litanies, the Archangel\nMichael appeared, hovering over the city. He alighted on the summit of\nthe Mausoleum of Hadrian and sheathed his sword, from which blood was\ndripping. From that hour the plague was stayed, and from that day the\nMausoleum, which is surmounted by a statue of the Archangel, has been\ncalled the Castle of Sant\u2019 Angelo.\n\nThe legends also give an account of two appearances of St. Michael when\nhe commanded the erection of churches; one at Monte Galgano, on the east\ncoast of Italy, and the second at Avranches in Normandy. The first site\nwas found to cover a wonderful stream of water, which cured many\ndiseases, and made the church of Monte Galgano a much frequented place\nof pilgrimage.\n\nThe church in Normandy is on the celebrated Mont Saint Michael, and is\nfamous in all Christian countries. From the time when the angel appeared\nto St. Aubert, the bishop, and commanded him to build the church, this\nsaint was greatly venerated in France, and was made patron of France and\nof the order which St. Louis instituted in his honor.\n\nThe first church erected here was small, but Richard of Normandy and\nWilliam the Conquerer raised a magnificent abbey, which overlooked the\nmost\n\n[Illustration: FRA FILIPPO LIPPI.--THE ANNUNCIATION OF THE DEATH OF THE\nVIRGIN MARY.]\n\npicturesque scenery, and for this reason, if no other, remains a much\nfrequented spot.\n\nThe old English coin called an angel was so named from the\nrepresentation of St. Michael which was stamped upon it.\n\nThe pictures of St. Michael announcing to the Virgin Mary the time of\nher death, bear so strong a resemblance to those of the Annunciation,\nthat it is necessary to remember that these have the symbols of a palm\non a lighted taper in the hand of the angel, instead of the lily of the\nArchangel Gabriel, as is seen in our illustration of a beautiful picture\nin the Florentine Academy.\n\nThe legend relates that on a certain day the heart of Mary was filled\nwith an inexpressible longing to see her Son, and she wept sorely, when\nlo! an angel clothed in light appeared before her, saluting her, and\nsaying, \u201cHail, O Mary! blessed by Him who hath given salvation to\nIsrael! I bring thee here a branch of palm gathered in paradise; command\nthat it be carried before thy bier in the day of thy death; for in three\ndays thy soul shall leave thy body, and thou shalt enter into paradise\nwhere thy Son awaits thy coming.\u201d Mary answering, said: \u201cIf I have found\ngrace in thy sight tell me thy name, and grant that the Apostles may be\nreunited to me, that in their presence I may give up my soul to God.\nAlso, I pray thee, that after death my soul may not be affrighted by any\nspirit of darkness, nor any evil angel be given power over me.\u201d And the\narchangel replied: \u201cMy name is the Great and Wonderful. Doubt not that\nthe Apostles shall be with thee to-day, for he who transported the\nprophet Habakkuk by the hair of his head to the lions\u2019 den, can also\nbring hither the Apostles. Fear thou not the evil spirit, for thou hast\nbruised his head, and destroyed his kingdom.\u201d And the angel departed,\nand the palm branch shed light from every leaf and sparkled as the stars\nof heaven.\n\nAnd the duty of the archangel was thus fulfilled until he should again\nappear as Lord of Souls to receive the spirit of the Virgin, to guard it\nuntil it should again inhabit her sinless body.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\nTHE ARCHANGEL GABRIEL.\n\n\nThe Archangel Gabriel is mentioned by name but twice in the Old\nTestament. First in Daniel viii., 16, when he explained the vision which\nthe prophet had seen, and again in Daniel ix., 21, when Gabriel appeared\nto Daniel to give him skill and understanding.\n\nLikewise in the New Testament he is twice mentioned, in Luke i., 19 and\n26, when he announced to Zacharias the birth of John the Baptist, and to\nthe Virgin Mary that she was favored of the Lord, and blessed among\nwomen. On each of these occasions he filled the office of a messenger\nor bearer of important tidings. It is believed to have been Gabriel who\nfought with the Angel of the Kingdom of Persia for twenty-one days, when\nMichael came to his relief, and Gabriel again visited Daniel to\nstrengthen him, and explain \u201cthat which is noted in the scripture of\ntruth,\u201d and to announce that the king of Gr\u00e6cia should overcome the king\nof Persia. After which Gabriel returned to his battle with the Angel of\nPersia.\n\nThe contest with the angel of Persia is a subject which offers unusual\nopportunities in its artistic representation; it is, however, much the\nsame in spirit as the struggle between Michael and Lucifer, and the\npreference was given to the latter by the painters of religious\nsubjects.\n\nSt. Gabriel has been many times portrayed as the messenger announcing\nthe birth of John the Baptist and that of Jesus Christ. In the\napochryphal legends he also foretells the birth of Samson, and that of\nthe Virgin Mary. From these frequently repeated messages which foretold\nimportant births, Gabriel naturally came to be regarded as the angel who\npresides over childbirth.\n\nThe great number of representations of the Annunciation to the Virgin\nMary make it difficult to select those of which to speak. The earliest\npictures of this event portray it with great simplicity, purity, and\ngrace. A spiritual mystery is being depicted, and is handled with\nsincere reverence and the utmost delicacy.\n\nThe scene is usually the portico of an ecclesiastical edifice. When\nseated, the Virgin is on a species of throne, but she is more frequently\nrepresented as standing. The archangel is at some distance from her, not\ninfrequently quite outside the porch. He is majestic and beautiful; is\nclothed in white, wearing the tunic and pallium, or archbishop\u2019s mantle.\nHis wings are large, and brilliant with many colors, and his abundant\nhair is bound with a jewelled tiara. He bears either the sceptre of\npower or a lily in one hand, while the other is extended in benediction.\nSometimes he holds a scroll inscribed with the words, \u201cAve Maria, gratia\nplena,\u201d Hail! Mary, full of grace, which words Dante represents Gabriel\nas constantly repeating in paradise.\n\nThe angel is the chief figure in this scene in the earlier pictures; he\nis joyfully triumphant, announcing the coming of the Saviour, while the\nVirgin is all humility and submission; in some cases her head is\ncovered, an extreme expression of lowliness, and she is always\nself-effacing in attitude and expression.\n\nAn early custom in churches was to place the picture of the Virgin on\none side of the altar, and that of the angel on the other side; or, if\nboth figures were in the same frame, a division was made by an\narchitectural pillar, or a conventional ornament between them. In many\ncases the Virgin and the Archangel were placed separately above, or on\neach side of some scene from the life of Jesus, usually an altar piece.\nThe picture by Fra Filippo Lippi, which we give, is a very fine example\nof the so-called \u201cdivided Annunciations.\u201d It is in the Florentine\nAcademy. This picture is very beautiful, and fittingly expresses the\nhumility and surprise of the Virgin and the reverence of the heavenly\nmessenger. It is also a good example of Fra Filippo\u2019s style; his\ndraperies were graceful, abundant, and usually much ornamented with\ndesigns in gold, of which we have here enough for elegance, while it is\nnot overdone as in other works of this artist.\n\n[Illustration: FRA FILIPPO LIPPI.--A DIVIDED ANNUNCIATION.]\n\nA very ancient Annunciation, of peculiar and elaborate arrangement,\ndating from the fifth century, is in mosaic, over the arch in front of\nthe choir in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, in Rome. The classical\ntreatment of the dresses, and of the entire composition, makes this work\nso different from the usual conception of the subject as to be worthy of\nobservation. There are two scenes: in the first, the archangel is sent\non his mission, and is rapidly flying towards the earth, as if in haste\nto utter his joyous salutation, \u201cHail! thou art highly favored! Blessed\nart thou among women!\u201d\n\nThe second scene presents Gabriel standing before the Virgin, who is\nseated on a throne, behind which are two guardian angels. This\nrepresentation is so utterly unlike what is known as Christian art as to\nmake a lasting impression, by reason of its classical treatment; all\nthe details have an air of belonging to an earlier period than that\nknown as medi\u00e6val, and the figures might be those of ancient Greeks.\n\nIt is extremely curious and interesting to observe the various methods\nof representing the Archangel Gabriel in pictures of the Annunciation.\nAt times he might be mistaken for the ambassador of a proud and powerful\nearthly potentate. He is clothed in gorgeous raiment, with a rich train,\nsometimes borne by one, and again by three page-like angels, while he\ncarries himself with majestic haughtiness.\n\nWe do not wonder that the difference between the estate of an archangel\nsent by God, and the humility of the Virgin of Galilee, should have\nmisled some artists; or that with them the angel held the first place,\nespecially as it was only thus that any element of splendor could be\nintroduced into their pictures. Indeed, we have engravings after a\npicture by Raphael, in which the Virgin is kneeling before the angel,\nwho raises the right hand in benediction.\n\nBut the gradual increase in the veneration accorded to the Virgin, and\nthe titles of Queen of Heaven, and Queen of Angels, which were bestowed\non her, soon changed the spirit of the representations of the\nAnnunciation; and while the Virgin loses none of her humility and\nsubmission, the angel bows, and even kneels to her, thus emphasizing his\nacknowledgment of her superior holiness,--since an archangel could only\nkneel before spiritual perfection.\n\nIt was well that the patriarchs and prophets should acknowledge the\nsuperiority of the angels sent to them,--but the glory of the Mother of\nChrist should be represented as commanding the reverence of even the\nhighest of created being--only thus could the faith of the Church, for\nwhich these religious pictures were painted, be fittingly illustrated.\n\nThus it became customary to omit the sceptre in the hand of the angel,\nand to give him the lily alone, or the lily and the scroll. Indeed,\nthere are notable pictures in which Gabriel has no symbol, but with\nhands clasped over his breast, and head inclined, he seems to worship\nthe Virgin while declaring his mission to her. There are, however, few\nAnnunciations in which the lily does not appear. It is the special\nsymbol of the purity of Mary, to whom is applied the verse from the Song\nof Solomon: \u201cI am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valleys.\u201d In\nsome pictures the lily is seen in a vase near the Virgin.\n\nOccasionally the symbol of peace is introduced in pictures of the\nAnnunciation by placing a crown of olive on the head\n\n[Illustration: ALESSANDRO ALLORI.--THE ANNUNCIATION.]\n\nof the archangel, or an olive branch in his hand. Here Gabriel is\npresented as announcing the \u201cPeace on earth and good will towards men,\u201d\nwhich Raphael and his attendant angels chanted to the shepherds on the\nbirth of Jesus.\n\nThe early German painters were fond of picturing Gabriel in priestly\nrobes, heavily embroidered, and rich in color. This dress supplied the\nsame gorgeous effect as was given by the princely trains of which I have\nspoken. In these pictures Gabriel usually kneels,--his ample robes\nfalling on the pavement around him,--thus avoiding the proud bearing of\nthe regally vestured messenger.\n\nThe simplicity of the scene, when Gabriel is appropriately draped in the\nfilmy white robe,--which is the usual conception of an angel\u2019s\ndress,--is far more satisfactory and harmonious with the spirit of the\nmiraculous Annunciation than any splendid vestments can possibly be.\n\nThe earliest pictures of the Annunciation, however, in spite of\nunsuitable costumes, and of certain technical imperfections, are more\nacceptable to the reverent mind than are those of a later time, in which\nthe angel is scantily draped and is apparently conscious of his physical\nbeauty, while the Virgin is entirely wanting in grace or dignity. Such a\nrendering of this scene is most offensive; all the more so that these\npictures are frequently well executed, and were they not presented as\nrepresentations of this sacred subject, but given some appropriate\ntitle, they would have claims to a certain artistic approbation.\n\nOther artists, like Allori, in our illustration, represent an all too\nconscious Virgin, an angel who apparently poses for a picture, and a\nmass of utterly inappropriate detail. This Annunciation, which is in\nthe Florentine Academy, affords an excellent example of this\nobjectionable style, and its faults are emphasized when it is compared\nwith the serious dignity of Fra Filippo\u2019s picture and that which\nfollows, by Fra Angelico. By such comparisons the great difference\nbetween true sentiment and affectation in Art becomes apparent.\n\nThere are some Annunciations in which the Virgin is represented as\nstarting up from fear or surprise, quite as one might fancy that a\ntragedy queen would do, were her privacy unceremoniously disturbed.\n\nAgain the Virgin Mary is fainting from emotion, and thus could not have\nreplied to the angel in the Scriptural words, \u201cBehold the handmaid of\nthe Lord; be it unto me according to thy word.\u201d\n\nNot infrequently, in representations of this scene, the Holy Spirit, as\na dove, hovers above or near the Virgin, or flies in through a window;\nagain the Almighty is seen in the clouds, surrounded by a celestial\nlight, and sometimes attended by celestial spirits. In rare instances\nthe Eternal Father sends the Infant Jesus down from the sky bearing a\ncross, and preceded by a dove. These extremely symbolic Annunciations\nare usually of an early date.\n\nFra Angelico painted the Annunciation with intense reverence and\nsimplicity. We have an illustration of his fresco on the wall of the\ncorridor in his convent of San Marco, in Florence, which is, to my mind,\none of the most beautiful and spiritual Annunciations in existence. It\ntells the sacred story faithfully; there is nothing introduced that does\nnot essentially belong here. The Virgin gives the impression of being\nequal to the angel in purity and goodness; he is superior only in\nknowledge.\n\n[Illustration: FRA ANGELICO.--THE ANNUNCIATION.]\n\nAngelico believed that he was divinely directed in his work, which he\nbegan with prayer, and for this reason he would never change his\noriginal design. His care in the finish of his pictures was phenomenal;\nhis draperies were dignified; his color and composition were harmonious.\nIt has well been said of his works: \u201cEvery part contributed to that\nunity of tenderness, inspiration, and religious feeling which marks his\npictures, and which are such as no one man had ever succeeded in\naccomplishing.\u201d Angelico knew nothing of human anxieties and struggles,\nand could not paint them; he could not depict the hatred of the enemies\nof Christ; martyrdoms and persecutions were feebly represented by him,\nbut to annunciations, coronations of the Virgin, and kindred subjects he\nimparted a sweetness and a spiritual fervor that has rarely, if ever,\nbeen surpassed. We can imagine him rising from his prayers with his\nconceptions of the Virgin and the archangel as distinct in his mind\u2019s\neye as they are to our vision in his pictures, and it is easy to\nunderstand that the man who lived in his atmosphere would be void of\nambition, and refuse to be made Archbishop of Florence, as he did.\n\nGabriel is reverenced by the Jews as the chief of the angelic guards,\nand the keeper of the celestial treasury. The Mohammedans regard him as\ntheir patron saint; their prophet believed this archangel to be his\ninspiring and instructing spirit. Thus he is important in the faith and\nlegends of Christians, Jews, and Mohammedans alike. Milton may have had\nthe Jewish tradition in mind when he represented Gabriel as the guardian\nof paradise:\n\n    \u201cBetwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,\n     Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night.\u201d\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\nTHE ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL.\n\nREPRESENTATIONS OF THREE, AND OF FOUR ARCHANGELS.\n\n\nThe Archangel Raphael is esteemed as the guardian angel of the human\nrace. He especially protects the young and innocent, and guards pilgrims\nand travellers from harm. It was he who warned Adam of the danger of\nsin, and declared to him its dread consequences. Milton thus interprets\nthe message:\n\n    \u201cBe strong, live happy, and love! but first of all\n     Him, whom to love is to obey, and keep\n     His great command; take heed lest passion sway\n     Thy judgment to do aught, which else free-will\n     Would not admit; thine, and of all thy sons\n     The weal or woe in thee is placed; beware!\u201d\n\nThat Raphael\u2019s language was benevolent and sympathetic, as imagined by\nthe poet, appears in Adam\u2019s farewell to the angel:\n\n                        \u201cSince to part\n    Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger,\n    Sent from whose sovereign goodness I adore!\n    Gentle to me, and affable hath been\n    Thy condescension, and shall be honor\u2019d ever\n    With grateful memory. Thou to mankind\n    Be good and friendly still, and oft return!\u201d\n\nRepresentations of St. Raphael are far less numerous than are those of\nSt. Michael and St. Gabriel. They are always pleasing, and present him\nas a benign, sympathetic, and companionable friend to those whom he\nserves. His symbol is habitually a pilgrim\u2019s staff; as a guardian he\nwears a sword, and has a small casket or vase, containing the \u201cfishy\ncharm\u201d against evil spirits. He wears a pilgrim\u2019s dress, has sandals on\nhis feet, and a pilgrim bottle or wallet hangs from his belt. His\nflowing hair is bound by a diadem, and his beautiful face expresses the\nbenevolence of his character and mission.\n\nMany chapels and some churches are dedicated to the Archangel Raphael,\nas the chief of celestial guardians, and in these are numerous pictures\ncommemorating his benevolent deeds. The greater part of the\nrepresentations of this archangel are so connected with the history of\nTobias, that it is necessary to know his story, in order to enjoy or\nunderstand these pictures. I will give this beautiful Hebrew narrative\nas concisely as possible:\n\nTobit was a rich man, and just; and he and his wife, Sara, were carried\ninto captivity by the Assyrians. He gave alms to all his people, lived\njustly, and ate not the bread of the Gentiles. His misfortunes,\nhowever, increased; he had but his wife and his son, Tobias, left to\nhim, when he became blind, and prayed for death.\n\nAt the same time a man named Raguel, who dwelt in Ecbatane, was\nafflicted with a daughter who was persecuted by an evil spirit. She had\nmarried seven husbands, and each one had been killed by the fiend, as\nsoon as he entered the bridal chamber. The maiden was accused of these\nmurders, and, like Tobit, she prayed for death.\n\nGod then sent the Archangel Raphael to cure the blindness of Tobit, and\ntake away the reproach of the unhappy daughter of Raguel of Ecbatane.\n\nAt this time Tobit desired his son, Tobias, to go to Gabael in Media to\nreceive ten talents, which Tobit had left in trust with Gabael. Tobias\nasked, \u201cHow can I receive the money, seeing I know him not?\u201d Tobit gave\nTobias the handwriting, and bade him seek a guide for his journey.\nRaphael then offered to guide the young man, who knew not that he spoke\nwith an archangel. Tobias led Raphael to his father, and they agreed\nupon the wages the guide should receive, and Tobit gave directions\nconcerning the journey, while he and Sara, his wife, were greatly\nafflicted at parting with Tobias.\n\nAt evening the travellers came to the river Tigris, and when Tobias went\nto bathe, a fish leapt out at him. Raphael told the youth to take out\nthe liver and gall of the fish and preserve it carefully, which being\ndone, they roasted the fish and ate it. When Tobias asked why he should\nkeep the liver and the gall, the angel told him that the heart and liver\nwould cure a person vexed with an evil spirit, if a smoke from them was\nmade before the person; and the gall would cure the blindness of one\nafflicted with whiteness of the eyes.\n\nIn our illustration from the picture by Andrea del Sarto, in the\nBelvedere, Vienna, Tobias carries the fish, and it appears to represent\nthe moment when Raphael is making his explanation of its purpose.\n\nAs they proceeded Raphael said: \u201cBrother, to-day we shall lodge with\nRaguel, who is thy cousin; he hath but one daughter, named Sara; I will\nask her as a wife for thee: she belongs to thee by law, and is fair and\nwise, and you can marry her when we return.\u201d Then Tobias, who knew the\nfate of the seven husbands, was filled with fear lest he too should die,\nand thus afflict his parents, who had no other child.\n\nBut Raphael assured Tobias that Sara\n\n[Illustration: ANDREA DEL SARTO.--THE ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL CONDUCTING THE\nYOUNG TOBIAS.]\n\nwas the wife that the Lord intended for him, and that when he entered\nthe marriage chamber the evil spirit would flee at the smoke he should\nmake with the liver of the fish, and would never return. When Tobias\nheard this he loved the maiden, and his heart was effectually joined to\nher.\n\nWhen they came near Ecbatane, they met Sara, and she led them to her\nparents, who rejoiced to see them, and wept when they heard of the\nblindness of Tobit. While the servants of Raguel prepared a supper,\nTobias said to the angel, \u201cSpeak of those things of which thou didst\ntalk, and let this business be despatched.\u201d Then Raphael asked Raguel to\ngive Sara to Tobias; but the father was sore distressed, and told of the\ndeath of the seven who had already married her; but as Sara belonged to\nTobias by the law of Moses, his request could not be denied, and before\nthey did eat together, Raguel joined their hands, and blessed them.\n\nThen the marriage chamber was prepared, and the maiden wept; but her\nmother comforted her, and when Tobias entered and made the smoke as the\nangel had directed, the evil spirit fled. Tobias and Sara knelt in\nthankfulness, and Tobias prayed as Raphael had told him, and Sara said,\n\u201cAmen.\u201d\n\nIn the morning Raguel dug a grave, for he wished to bury Tobias quickly,\nthat no one should know what had happened; but when he sent to see if he\nwere dead, it was found that the young husband was quietly sleeping.\nThen there was great rejoicing, and a wedding feast was made, which\nlasted fourteen days. Meanwhile, Raphael went to Gabael and received\nfrom him the ten talents, and when the feast ended, the angel conducted\nTobias and Sara to Tobit, and Raguel bestowed on Sara half his wealth.\n\nAs they approached Nineveh, Raphael said to Tobias, \u201cLet us haste before\nthy wife, to prepare the house: and take thou the gall of the fish.\u201d The\nmother of Tobias was watching for his return, and was greatly alarmed at\nhis long absence. When she saw him with his guide, and the little dog\nwhich he had taken away, she ran to Tobit with the news, and they\nrejoiced greatly. Raphael now said to Tobias, \u201cI know that thy father\nwill open his eyes; therefore anoint them with the gall, and being\npricked therewith, he shall rub them, and the whiteness shall fall away,\nand he shall see thee.\u201d And so it was, and Tobit was blind no more, and\nthey all rejoiced and blessed God.\n\nThen Tobias recounted all that had happened, and his parents went out\nwith him to meet his wife, and her servants, and cattle, and all she\nhad brought with her. And the people were filled with wonder to see that\nTobit was blind no more, and they rejoiced greatly with him during seven\ndays when he kept a feast.\n\nTobit bade his son to call his guide and give him more than the wages\nthat had been named. And Tobias wished to give the angel half of all he\nhad brought back with him, and Tobit said, \u201cIt is due unto him.\u201d But\nwhen Raphael knew their intentions he commanded them to glorify God for\nall his goodness, and told Tobit that his goodness and sorrows and those\nof the daughter of Raguel had been known in heaven, and God had sent him\nto heal all these troubles; and added, \u201cI am Raphael, one of the seven\nholy angels, which present the prayers of the saints, and go in and out\nbefore the glory of the Holy One.\u201d\n\nOur illustration after the picture of\n\n[Illustration: GIOVANNI BILIVERTI.--THE ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL REFUSING THE\nGIFTS OF TOBIAS.]\n\nGiovanni Biliverti in the Pitti Gallery, Florence, places before us the\nscene, when, refusing reward, the Archangel declared himself. The beauty\nof the angel, the affectionate enthusiasm of Tobias, and the sincere and\nreverent gratitude of the old Tobit are wonderfully portrayed, while the\nyoung wife and the aged mother in the background complete the group of\nthose who have been delivered from their sorrows by the messenger of the\nMost High.\n\nFrom the time when the angel left them Tobit and Raguel prospered, and\nafter Tobit and Sara died, Tobias removed to Ecbatane and inherited the\nwealth of Raguel; he lived with honor to be an hundred and seven and\ntwenty years old, and to hear of the destruction of Nineveh.\n\nMilton thus refers to the story of Tobias:\n\n              \u201cThe affable archangel\n      Raphael; the sociable spirit that design\u2019d\n        To travel with Tobias, and secured\n    His marriage with the seven times wedded maid.\u201d\n\nRaphael is frequently represented without wings when leading Tobias,\nwho--in order to emphasize the contrast between an angel and a\nmortal--is made very small, and is thus manifestly out of keeping with\nthe story. When the wings appear there is no reason for dwarfing Tobias,\nand the picture is far more satisfactory. It is not difficult to discern\nthat if the story of Tobias is considered as an allegory, the young man\npersonates the Christian, guided and guarded through life by God\u2019s\nmercy.\n\nThere is, in Verona, in the Church of St. Euphemia, a most impressive\nchapel which was decorated with pictures illustrating the story of\nTobias, by Carotto, a pupil of Mantegna, who seems to have painted more\nin the manner of Leonardo than in that of his master.\n\nVarious incidents of the story are effectively pictured, but the famous\naltar-piece, the greatest work by Carotto, is the most important of the\nnumber. It represents the Archangels Michael, Gabriel, and\nRaphael,--three exquisite wingless figures,--the latter being in the\ncentre, and the only one having an aureole. He is leading Tobias, and\nlooking down at the youth with an expression of tenderness.\n\nSt. Michael is on the right; one hand rests on his great sword, while\nwith the other he lifts his crimson robe. His countenance, serious and\nindomitable in expression, fitly indicates the characteristics that his\ntitles imply. He is the Lord of Souls and the Angel of Judgment, so far\nas human imagination can picture so exalted a celestial being.\n\nSt. Gabriel, on the left, holding a lily, and gazing heavenward in\nadoration, is a beautiful, angelic figure, far less powerful than the\nother archangels, and quite in harmony with his office.\n\nThe impression on my mind, made by this picture, is that Gabriel\nrealizes that his blessed office has been fulfilled, his active work is\ndone, and adoration is now his duty and his joy; but Michael and Raphael\nhave still their great missions to perfect; they are still battling\nagainst evil, and guiding men in the paths of righteousness.\n\nCarotto was a native of Verona, and his pictures are rarely seen\nelsewhere. His color is warm and well blended, while his drawing is\nsevere. It is said that he was but twenty-five years old when he\ndecorated the Chapel of St. Raphael, in 1495. He was of a quick wit, and\nwhen told that the legs of his angels were\n\n[Illustration: SANDRO BOTTICELLI.--THE ARCHANGEL RAPHAEL.\n\n(FROM A PICTURE OF TOBIAS AND THE THREE ARCHANGELS.)]\n\ntoo slender, he instantly replied, \u201cThen they will fly the easier.\u201d\n\nA very famous and wonderful picture of the three archangels with Tobias,\nby Botticelli, is in the Academy of Florence. The angels of this artist\nare frequently criticised for a certain stiffness, but their beautiful\nfaces more than redeem any fault in their figures, and have a sweetness\nand depth of expression that appeals to the heart and makes one forget\nless important details.\n\nA picture of St. Raphael leading Tobias, in the Church of St. Marziale\nin Venice, is said to be the earliest remaining work by Titian. For this\nreason it is most interesting, but it is certainly not so beautiful as\nthat of Carotto, nor as that of Raphael, called the Madonna del\nPesce,--the Madonna of the Fish,--in the Madrid Gallery, in which the\nmaster pictures the archangel whose name he bore.\n\nOf this last picture Passavant says, \u201cHere Christian poetry has found\nits highest expression; for it is poetry which touches all nations the\nmost deeply, and beauty alone can give an idea of divinity.\u201d\n\nIn the famous Madonna del Pesce, the Virgin is seated on a throne with\nthe child; the young Tobias, holding a fish in his hand, and led by the\nArchangel Raphael, comes to implore Jesus to cure his father\u2019s\nblindness. The Infant Saviour looks at Tobias, while his hand is on an\nopen book which St. Jerome holds before him; the symbolic lion crouches\nat the feet of the saint. The background of the picture is principally\nformed by a curtain, but on the right a small opening of sky is seen.\n\nThe whole picture is executed in the best style of the artist\u2019s mature\npower, while it is full of the fervent piety of his earlier works. The\nVirgin is the ideal of purity and loveliness; the child is radiant with\ndivine beauty; the angel is celestial in his bearing and his\ncountenance, while the head of the reverend saint is grand and noble in\nexpression.\n\nRaphael\u2019s Madonnas sometimes seem to be but simple domestic women,\ngifted with beauty; in them no trace of a mystical or spiritual nature\nappears; but the Madonna del Pesce, like the Madonna di San Sisto, and\nthe Madonna di Fuligno, justifies the eulogy of Vasari, when he says,\n\u201cRaphael has shown all the beauty which can be imagined in the\nexpression of a Virgin; in the eyes there is modesty, on the brow there\nshines honor, the nose is of a very graceful character, the mouth\nbetokens sweetness and excellence.\u201d The color of the Madonna del Pesce\nis admirably clear and harmonious, even for this great master.\n\nThis Madonna was originally painted for the Church of San Domenico\nMaggiore, at Naples, in which church a chapel had been erected as an\nespecial place of worship for the numerous Neapolitans who suffer from\ndiseases of the eye; it was not, however, permitted to serve its\nintended purpose, and has had an interesting history.\n\nIt is said that the Duke of Medina, when Viceroy of Naples, took the\npicture from the Dominicans without the consent of the government, and\nwhen the prior complained to the Pope, Medina had him escorted to the\nfrontier by fifty horsemen, and expelled from the kingdom. In 1644 the\nDuke took the Virgin with the Fish to Spain, and Philip IV. placed it in\nthe Escurial. In 1813, when the French were compelled to leave Spain,\nthey took this picture, with many others, to Paris.\n\nIt was painted on a panel and was in bad condition, and Bonnemaison was\ncommissioned to transfer it to canvas. This work was not completed in\n1815, when other pictures which had been taken from Spain were returned,\nand this Madonna remained in France until 1822. Naturally, it must have\nlost something of its original excellence, but it still holds a place of\nhonor in the wonderful Italian Gallery of the Madrid Museum; it is a\nrival of the famous Dresden Madonna--di San Sisto--in the regard of many\nconnoisseurs in art.\n\nThe various scenes from the story of Raphael and Tobias have been\nrepresented in the works of artists of all nations. Rembrandt four times\npainted the parting of Tobias from his father and mother, and several\nother incidents in the story. His picture in the Louvre, of the\ndeparture of the Archangel, is remarkable for its spirited action. As\nthe angel ascends, flying through the air, he seems to part the clouds\nas a strong swimmer passes through the breakers of the sea.\n\nThere have been many curious conceits introduced into some of the early\nreligious pictures, and I have seen two instances in which little\nseraphim and angels are perched on trees, near the Virgin and Holy\nChild. The idea seems to be that these \u201cBirds of God\u201d--as Dante calls\nthe angels--are making music and singing for the Divine Infant, some of\nthem also praying for his solace.\n\nOccasionally a series of pictures called the Acts of the Holy Angels has\nbeen painted. It consists of eleven strictly Scriptural subjects,\nusually as follows, but varied in some instances by the introduction of\nother motives of the same character, as, for example, the angel\nappearing to Hagar and to Elijah:\n\n   I. The Fall of Lucifer.\n  II. The Expulsion of Adam and Eve from the Garden of Eden.\n III. The Visit of Three Angels to Abraham.\n  IV. The Angel Preventing the Sacrifice of Isaac.\n   V. The Angel Wrestling with Jacob.\n  VI. Jacob\u2019s Dream.\n VII. The Deliverance of the Three Children from the Fiery Furnace.\nVIII. The Angel Slays the Host of Sennacherib.\n  IX. The Angel Protects Tobias.\n   X. The Punishment of Heliodorus.\n  XI. The Annunciation to the Virgin.\n\nI have already said that of the seven archangels to whom Milton refers,\nwhen he says:\n\n                        \u201cThe Seven\n    Who in God\u2019s presence, nearest to his throne,\n    Stand ready at command,\u201d\n\nbut three are recognized by the Christian Church; and when three\narchangels are seen together, they are Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael.\nIn the Greek Church this representation is regarded as typical of the\nmilitary, civil, and religious power, and, accordingly, the costumes\nindicate a soldier, a prince, and a priest.\n\nBut Uriel has not been entirely ignored, even by the Christian Church,\nand an early tradition teaches that this archangel, and not Christ,\naccompanied the two disciples on their way to Emmaus. In the book of\nEsdras we read, \u201cThe angel that was sent unto me, whose name was Uriel.\u201d\nHis office was that of interpreter of judgments and prophecies, which\nMilton recognizes thus:\n\n    \u201cUriel, for thou of those Seven Spirits that stand\n     In sight of God\u2019s high throne, gloriously bright,\n     The first art wont his great authentic will\n     Interpreter through highest heaven to bring.\u201d\n\nIn several ancient churches four archangels are represented in the\narchitectural decoration. An example in which they are very splendid is\nthat in the mosaics above the choir arch in the Cathedral of Monreale,\nPalermo. These colossal, armed figures are impressive, not only from\ntheir size, but also because of their apparent realization of their\nillustrious rank in the order of created beings.\n\nMore frequently the four archangels are so represented as to appear to\nsustain the roof, or vault, in churches where the figure of Christ, or\nhis symbol, the Lamb, is pictured as the central decoration. These are\nclearly intended to personate the four \u201cwho sustain the throne of God.\u201d\nTheir symbols are sceptres or lances; at times they stand erect, like\nfaithful, watchful guardians; again with arms outstretched they seem to\nuphold the vault on which Christ is portrayed.\n\nThe representations of three archangels are more numerous than the\nabove, and are variously treated. In some ancient pictures they have no\nwings, and appear like men of princely rank and noble character. I have\nseen the visitors of Abraham thus represented, which accords with the\nHebrew idea of angels at the period when Abraham was thus honored; for,\nas I have mentioned, it was not until after the captivity, when the\nEgyptian custom of giving wings to their representations of messengers\nhad been observed, that the cherubim and seraphim covered the mercy-seat\nwith their wings.\n\nOne of the best known and most beautiful pictures of these angelic\nvisitors is that by Raphael in the fourth arcade of the Loggie of the\nVatican.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n     GUARDIAN ANGELS, ANGEL CHORISTERS, AND ADORING ANGELS--DEMONS AND\n     EVIL SPIRITS.\n\n\nFrom the classification of the angelic hosts by the early theologians,\nand the special duties assigned to each class, we learn that the word\nangels, as ordinarily used, refers to archangels and angels only; these\ntwo classes are associated with human life in all its phases, while\nprincedoms protect monarchies, thrones sustain the throne of God,\ncherubs continually worship, and seraphs adore the Most High.\n\nA belief in guardian angels--those especially devoted to the care of\nindividuals--is far more widespread than the realism of the present day\nis inclined to admit. The godly man has a sure warrant for this trust in\nthe ninety-first psalm:\n\n     \u201cBecause thou hast made the Lord, which is my refuge, even the Most\n     High, thy habitation; there shall no evil befall thee, neither\n     shall any plague come nigh thy dwelling. For he shall give his\n     angels charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways.\u201d\n\nWe cannot think of angels as a reality in the winged, human forms that\nhave been given them in Art, any more than we can look for mermaids to\nrise from the waters mentioned in the charming legends in which these\nmaidens acted their parts. These imaginary and apparently palpable\nangels are but allegories, which long have been and continue to be the\nangels of Art, and we could not willingly give them up. We know that\n\n[Illustration: FRA ANGELICO.--ANGEL CHORISTERS.]\n\nthey are impossible, even fantastic, if we permit ourselves to be\nmatter-of-fact; but as emblems of spiritual guardians, sent to mortals\nby an ever-watchful Father, we love them; and we wish to believe in\nguardian angels for those who are dear to us, even if we cannot realize\nthem for ourselves.\n\nIn one of the early councils of the Church the form of angels was\nconsidered, and it was maintained by John of Thessalonica that they were\nin shape like men, and should be thus represented. This decision is\nsupported by the supposition that God spoke to the angels when he said,\n\u201cLet us make man after _our_ image;\u201d and again by Daniel, when he\ndescribes his heavenly visitors as \u201clike unto the similitude of the sons\nof men.\u201d\n\nA guardian angel must be ever beside his charge from the beginning to\nthe end of life, not only to guard from evil, but also to incite to\ngood. In sorrow he is a comforter; in weakness, strength; even in death\nhe is faithful, and contends against the evil spirits who fight for the\npossession of every soul; and after death he bears the spirit to St.\nMichael, the Lord of Souls. Thus is the guardian angel represented in\nArt, as is seen in our illustration called the Angel of Peace.\n\nWhen we observe a beautiful, unselfish life that rises far above its\nsurroundings, we recall the belief in angelic guardians, and the\ndescription which Milton gave of a chaste, saintly soul:\n\n    \u201cA thousand liveried angels lackey her,\n     Driving far off each thing of sin and guilt;\n     And in clear dream and solemn vision\n     Tell her of things that no gross ear can hear,\n     Till oft converse with heav\u2019nly habitants\n     Begin to cast a beam on th\u2019 outward shape.\u201d\n\nThe impersonality of angels is one of their most precious qualities. An\nangel\n\n[Illustration: KAULBACH.--THE ANGEL OF PEACE.]\n\nis never active except as the agent of the Almighty, deputed to manifest\nhis mercy and love to the pious, or to inflict his punishments on the\nwicked. Thus angels must be perfect beings; and while they love to\nserve, their service is void of the personality which is inherent in all\nhuman service. When they sing together it is because some good has come\nto men, and when they mourn it is for human affliction.\n\nAccording to the teaching of the Fathers of the Church to which we have\nreferred, the combat between good and evil angels is unceasing, and they\nalso warrant Christians in invoking the aid of angels, and believing\nthem to be ever near to prevent evil and encourage good. From the views\nof the early theologians the artists evolved their manner of\nrepresenting the hosts of heaven, and while for a time angels were\nrepresented as colossal, gradually they became more graceful and\nlovely, as well as more human.\n\nAn ideal, a thought, must be personified to be represented to the eye,\nand I doubt if any new personification of angels could satisfactorily\nreplace that which has been developed in Art during sixteen centuries,\nand to which we are accustomed from our earliest childhood. The angels\nthat are known in pictures, watching over children, preventing harm to\nindividuals, as in the sacrifice of Isaac, encouraging or even\ncompelling worthy action, as in the case of Balaam, are dear to the\nheart of the world.\n\nThe representations of guardian angels in the more homely relations,\nwatching sleeping infants, guiding their feeble steps,--as is seen in\nour frontispiece,--and shielding them from accidents, are modern. To the\nend of the sixteenth century guardian angels, while engaged in all\nthese minor duties, according to the teaching of the Church, were only\nrepresented in Art as performing solemn and superhuman deeds.\n\nThis may have resulted from the fixed belief of the old artists in these\nangelic beings, and their deep reverence for them, while modern artists\nare simply seeking a graceful and poetic subject. But, be this as it\nmay, the angels who perform miracles to prevent the torture of Christian\nmartyrs and other superhuman acts, are as essentially guardian angels as\nare those bending over cradles and gathering blossoms for children in\nthe fields.\n\nAfter the guardians, the choristers, or musical angels, most appeal to\nus. They are beautiful in their representations, and fulfil an ideal\nmission. Their hymns of praise are not all devoted to the pure worship\nof the Almighty,--except as he is all and in all,--since they rejoice\nand sing when blessings are conferred upon mankind.\n\nHow exquisite is the story in the second chapter of St. Luke\u2019s Gospel,\nwhen the single angel announces the birth of Jesus to the shepherds,\n\u201cand suddenly there was with the angel a multitude of the heavenly host\npraising God, and saying, \u2018Glory to God in the highest, and on earth\npeace, good will toward men.\u2019\u201d In the final sentences of this heavenly\nchant we have the assurance that angels delight to sing of happiness to\nmankind.\n\nThere is much that appeals to our imagination in the thought of these\nheavenly musicians. We fancy their perfect instruments attuned to\nperfect voices, creating such harmonies as no earthly orchestra can\nreproduce.\n\n    \u201cThe harp, the solemn pipe\n     And dulcimer, all organs of sweet stop.\u201d\n\n[Illustration: PERUGINO.--MUSICAL ANGELS.]\n\nIn the early days of Christian Art, painters and sculptors alike\ndelighted in the representation of musical angels, and it is surprising\nto find in how many scenes they are not only appropriate but\nindispensable. Our illustration, after Perugino, is from his picture of\nthe Assumption of the Virgin in the Florentine Academy.\n\nThey are most fittingly present at the coronations of Jesus and the\nVirgin; they gladly welcomed the just to heaven; they join in the hymn\nof St. Cecilia, which they must have inspired; they are always in\nharmony with pictures of the Madonna and child, and, in short, numerous\nas are the representations of them, they are never too many.\n\nIt would seem that certain sculptors and painters must have seen these\nblessed beings in visions, and listened to their music, so wonderfully\ndid they embody them in statues and on canvas. Della Robbia, Ghiberti,\nFra Angelico, Ghirlandajo, Melozzo da Forli, Vivarini, Gian Bellini,\nRaphael, Palma, must all have seen, at least with the eyes of the\nspirit, the angelic choirs which make so precious a part of their legacy\nto us.\n\nThe difference in the sentiments with which these angelic choristers\nseem to be inspired lends them a peculiar charm. Now they are alone\nintent on solemnly praising God; again they seem full of such\noverflowing joy as can only be expressed in vocal harmonies, in\nsymphonies with viol, pipe, harp, and lute. Nowhere are these angels\nmore lovely than when, with their sweet faces turned to the Infant\nJesus, they chant their love for him.\n\nCherubim and seraphim are technically the adoring angels, as they are\nrepresented in pictures of God, the Father. But adoring angels are\nfrequently seen in pictures of the Madonna and Child, as well as in\nscenes from the lives of Jesus and the Virgin. Sometimes they appear in\ngreat numbers, as in Angelico\u2019s picture of the Last Judgment; or in\nsmaller groups, as the three adoring angels by Francesco Granacci; or\nsingly, as in the case of the angel with bowed head, who stands behind\nthe Virgin in the Madonna and Angels, by Boticelli; the last three\npictures being among our illustrations.\n\nMourning angels appear more frequently in sculpture than in painting,\nand are much used as monuments to the dead; but there are pictures in\nwhich angels show their sympathy with sorrow and suffering. While from\ntheir nature they cannot be unhappy, they are not represented as joyful\nin pictures of the Crucifixion and other sorrowful scenes in the lives\nof Jesus, the Virgin, or saintly martyrs. They hide their faces, wring\ntheir hands, and manifest their sympathetic grief in various ways. I\nrecall a picture of a mourning angel kneeling before a crown of thorns\nwith tears upon his face.\n\nThere are occasional pictures of kneeling angels, who have the\nappearance of praying. Artists have naturally manifested their\nindividuality in their works, but I do not recall any Scripture warrant\nfor representing angels as themselves praying, although they are present\nwith mortals who pray. It is, however, not inconsistent with their\nmission to bear the prayers of mortals to the throne of God and to\nreturn with a blessing.\n\nIn the early centuries of the Church there was a well-established belief\nthat wicked spirits had power over men and tempted them to all manner of\nsins; they especially desired, it was taught, to lead\n\n[Illustration: FRANCESCO GRANACCI.--ANGELS IN ADORATION.]\n\nthe pious to revolt against the true religion, and to become idolaters,\nas they had themselves revolted against the Almighty. It was also\nbelieved that good and evil spirits constantly contended over every\nhuman being, the struggle between angels and demons being unending.\n\nDevils are introduced in many pictures, and are easily recognized by\ntheir demoniacal appearance. Frequently they are very small and\nnumerous. They are represented as hovering above death-beds, they\nrejoice in the persecution of the martyrs, and wherever seen, are the\nvery personification of all that is repulsive and loathsome.\n\nThe most important pictures in which the devil is represented as a human\nbeing are scenes in the temptation of Jesus, when he was led into the\nwilderness to be tempted forty days. Shakespeare says that \u201cthe devil\nhath power to assume a pleasing shape,\u201d but apparently artists have not\nrecognized this. In their pictures of him there is always some\ncharacteristic which at once discloses his personality. His skin is an\nugly brown, or the hoofs which he endeavors to hide are disclosed, or\nthe repulsive expression of his face warns one of his dangerous\ncharacter.\n\nHappily such pictures are not numerous, but an ideal of the\nrepulsiveness of the Father of Lies has been conceived by many from the\nfamous representations of him by Raphael and Guido, in their pictures of\nhis conquest by St. Michael. In numerous cases, however, the presence of\nSatan is indicated by symbols. The dragon and the serpent are the\nusually accepted emblems of the Evil Spirit, but there are many\nvariations of this symbolism. A horrid dragon head with open mouth\ntypifies hell. Frequently the serpent has an apple in his mouth and\nthus personates the wily tempter of Mother Eve; but in many cases the\nserpent has no relation to the fall of man, and is personified evil.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\nPICTURES OF ANGELS AS AUTHORIZED BY THE SCRIPTURES.\n\n\nBesides the representations of angels in art in accordance with the\nimagination of individual artists, there are two important classes of\nangelic subjects, one of which rests upon the authority of the\nScriptures, and the other upon that of the sacred legends. A\ncomprehensive treatment of these works would require several volumes of\nthe size of this book; but I will here give a suggestive outline of\nthem.\n\nThe first mention of angels in the Old Testament occurs in the third\nchapter of Genesis, when it is related that cherubims were placed at\nthe east of the Garden of Eden, to keep the way to the Tree of Life.\nGood pictures of this subject are as rare as they are beautiful. In them\nthe exquisite garden, the radiant cherubim, and the dazzling light from\nthe flaming sword, combine in producing a glorious effect.\n\nIn connection with the story of Abraham, angels frequently appear. The\nsacrifice of Isaac is always an interesting subject, symbolizing, as it\ndoes, in the submission of Isaac, that of Jesus, and in the willingness\nof Abraham to give his son in sacrifice, that of the Divine Father to\ngive his well-beloved Son for the salvation of men. The appearance of\nthe angel to prevent the consummation of the sacrifice has been painted\nmany times, notably by Andrea del Sarto, whose poetical pictures of this\nscene are in the Dresden and Madrid galleries.\n\nThe picture by Rembrandt is powerful, and painfully realistic. It is in\nthe Hermitage at St. Petersburg. The same scene in the Church of Santa\nMaria della Salute, Venice, is by Titian, and is among the famous works\nof this great master.\n\nOur illustration after a picture by Il Sodoma, in the Cathedral of Pisa,\nis in the best style of that master, who has been called the pride of\nthe Sienese school. His acknowledged power to render intense feeling is\nseen in the face of Abraham, while the angel is an example of his\nconception of beauty; the submissive Isaac, missing the pressure of his\nfather\u2019s hand from his shoulder, without changing his position, turns\nhis eyes to discover the reason for the delay of the expected blow.\n\nIn the story of Hagar an angel twice appears, and one is surprised that\nthese charming subjects have so rarely been\n\n[Illustration: IL SODOMA.--THE SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM.]\n\npainted, while the more disagreeable expulsion of Hagar from the home of\nher youth has been frequently represented; the picture of this scene by\nGuercino, in the Brera at Milan, is famous, and certainly tells the\nstory of \u201cCast out the bondwoman and her son\u201d with directness; but there\nis an element of vulgarity in it that so detracts from its good\nqualities as to make one wonder that it could have been so much admired.\n\nA far more tender subject is that which pictures Hagar in the wilderness\nalone, and repentant of her fault, for which Sarah had chastened her; it\nis at this moment that the angel appears and commands her return to\nAbraham. A fine example of this rare subject by Pietro da Cortona is in\nthe Belvedere, at Vienna. Rubens also painted this scene.\n\nA picture that is even more pathetic represents Hagar and Ishmael in\nthe wilderness of Beersheba. Ishmael is fainting from thirst, and Hagar\nflings herself to the ground with the prayer, \u201cLet me not see the death\nof the child,\u201d when an angel appears to comfort her, and guide her to a\nhidden spring. The pathos of this scene must appeal to every mother, and\na picture of it by Rembrandt is so fine that one can but regret that it\nis not in a public collection.\n\nThe visit of the three angels to Abraham is also a rare subject in Art.\nI have already referred to that painted by Raphael, in the Vatican.\nMurillo also represented it in a picture now in a private gallery in\nEngland. In neither of these pictures have the angels wings.\n\nThe three beautiful figures by Raphael, however, are not like any men\nwhom we have seen; they impress one as beings of another and a far\nhigher sphere than ours. Murillo, on the contrary, shows us three\nordinary travellers, and but for the title of the picture, we should not\nsuspect that these men were celestial visitors. A large picture of this\nsubject by Rembrandt is one of the treasures of the Hermitage.\n\nJacob\u2019s dream, with the ascending and descending angels, is an exquisite\nmotive for illustration, and has been variously pictured. A single angel\nsometimes watches the sleeper, as if to inspire his dream and bring him\na blessing; again, there are many angels, and again, but a small number,\nwho move here and there, up and down, imparting a remarkable effect of\nairy, graceful motion. The ladder, too, is widely varied, being\nrepresented by one or several flights of steps, ascending to the clouds.\n\nIn the sixth arcade of the Vatican loggie is Raphael\u2019s third and best\nrepresentation of this dream. Here Jacob\u2019s face is turned towards the\nladder, on which are six angels; Jehovah appears above with outstretched\narms, and surrounded by a glory. It is not one of the best of Raphael\u2019s\nworks, and, indeed, all representations of Jacob\u2019s dream that I have\nseen, are, to my mind, insufficient when compared with that of\nRembrandt, in the Dulwich gallery. This is a poem as essentially as it\nis a picture. A stream of dazzling light forms the ladder, up and down\nwhich float mystic, radiant angels. The whole impression is so like a\ndream, so intangible, and yet so apparent, that one wonders how\nRembrandt, who so often dwelt upon the all too solid elements of his\nmotives, here caught the innermost spirit of this most spiritual\nsubject.\n\n\u201cThe Comforting of Elijah\u201d is a subject with rare possibilities, but has\nbeen seldom represented.\n\nRubens painted a picture of this scene as symbolical of the Lord\u2019s\nSupper, the angel presenting to Elijah the bread and a chalice.\nFollowing a custom of some landscape painters who introduced a\nsubject--mythological, historical, or Scriptural--into their pictures,\nPaul Potter represented the \u201cComforting of Elijah\u201d in the foreground of\none of his pictures. It also occurs in some ancient illuminated Bibles.\n\nWilliam Blake\u2019s illustration of the text in Job, \u201cWhen the morning stars\nsang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy,\u201d is famous for\nthe unusual character of the angels. Like many pictures by this poet,\nwho was esteemed as half mad, it has an element of other worldliness\nwhich is rarely seen in works of his era. Of this especial picture Mrs.\nJameson wrote: \u201cHis adoring angels float rather than fly, and, with\ntheir half liquid draperies, seem about to dissolve into light and\nlove; and his rejoicing angels--behold them--sending up their voices\nwith the morning stars, that, singing, in their glory, move.\u201d\n\nThe Vision of Ezekiel, in the Pitti Gallery, in Florence, is, so far as\nI know, a unique representation of this subject. Raphael painted it for\nCount Ercolani in Bologna. It is mentioned as early as 1589, in the\nInventory of the Tribune, and has been engraved and copied many times.\n\nJehovah is represented seated in a glory of cherubim\u2019s heads, which are\nalmost unnoticeable by reason of the exceeding brightness illustrative\nof the text, \u201cAnd I saw as the color of amber, as the appearance of fire\nround about within it, from the appearance of his loins even upward, and\nfrom the appearance of his loins even downward. I saw as it were the\nappearance of fire, and it had brightness round about.\u201d In accordance\nwith this text also, Jehovah is nude in the upper portion of the figure,\nthe lower portion being draped in purple. Near the Jehovah are the four\nanimals symbolic of the evangelists, the cherub, the lion, the ox, and\nthe eagle, not earthly creations, but mysterious and spiritual as they\nfloat along bearing the Messiah, while two small angels are near with\noutstretched arms.\n\nThe sky effects of this wonderful picture are fine; the gray clouds are\nrolling away, as if for the purpose of disclosing the vision. This\npicture has been criticised on account of the nude figure of Jehovah; it\nhas been said to be a more proper representation of Jupiter than of the\nAlmighty, but Raphael is justified by the text itself.\n\nPerhaps no representation exists which more acceptably renders the\nsymbolic nature of the Four Beasts than does this. The exact imitation\nof nature, which appeared later in works of Art, is entirely opposed to\nthe true meaning of these emblems, which was sacred and mystical. The\ncherub typifies St. Matthew, because his Gospel sets forth the human\nnature of Christ more forcibly than the divine. The lion was appropriate\nto St. Mark, because he first speaks of \u201cthe voice of one crying in the\nwilderness,\u201d typical of the lion. The ox belongs to St. Luke, since he\ndwells on the priesthood of Christ, the ox symbolizing sacrifice; the\neagle to St. John, as the emblem of his inspiration, by which he wrote\nso sublimely of the divinity of Jesus.\n\nThere are several other explanations of these symbols which are so often\nseen in works of Art. But in this especial picture of the \u201cVision of\nEzekiel,\u201d it would seem as if the throne of the Son of Man is composed\nof these mystic beasts, while the angels are attending him, and gaze\ninto his face, as if watching for some service to be rendered.\n\nWhen the Four Beasts are so pictured as to recall those who were full of\neyes within, and rest not day and night, saying, \u201cHoly, holy, holy, Lord\nGod Almighty\u201d (Revelation iv., 7), they fulfil the intention of the\nsymbol of the early Church, as it was understood by those to whom it was\nsacred. But when, in the hands of an irreligious and realistic artist,\nthey become \u201cas the beasts of the field,\u201d his work is but a travesty\nupon the mysterious religious symbols, which he thus debases.\n\nThe New Testament gives us a clearer idea of the nature and offices of\nangels than we obtain from the Hebrew Scriptures. We learn of their\ngreat numbers from the words of Jesus, \u201cThinkest thou that I cannot now\npray to my Father, and he shall presently give me more than twelve\nlegions of angels?\u201d (Matthew xxvi., 53), and from Paul, when he speaks\nof the \u201cinnumerable company of angels.\u201d In the Gospels of St. Matthew\nand St. Luke we learn that they are superior to human affections, and\nnot subject to change. \u201cFor in the resurrection they neither marry, nor\nare given in marriage, but are as the angels of God\u201d (Matthew xxii.,\n30). \u201cNeither can they die any more; for they are equal unto the angels\u201d\n(Luke xx., 36). By the words of Jesus, however, we are assured of the\nsympathy of angels in all that concerns our spiritual good. In Luke xv.,\n10, Jesus says, \u201cLikewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence\nof the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.\u201d\n\nThe belief that angels bear the souls of\n\n[Illustration: MELOZZO DA FORLI.--AN ANGEL.]\n\nthe redeemed to heaven, rests largely on the declaration by St. Luke\nthat \u201cthe beggar died, and was carried by the angels into Abraham\u2019s\nbosom;\u201d and in Hebrews i., 14, St. Paul teaches that they are \u201csent\nforth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation.\u201d\n\nIn the annunciations of the birth of John the Baptist and of Jesus, the\nangels were the messengers of God, as they so frequently were when they\nappeared in the Old Testament.\n\nThat angels are attendant on Christ is taught in the declaration of St.\nMatthew that \u201cthe Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with\nhis angels.\u201d And again, \u201cWhen the Son of man shall come in his glory,\nand all the holy angels with him.\u201d\n\nThat angels are deputed to perform such acts as make for the\naccomplishment of Christ\u2019s mission is shown in Acts v., 19, when an\nangel liberated the Apostles from prison, and commanded them to \u201cspeak\nin the temple to the people all the words of life.\u201d\n\nWhen writing to the Romans, St. Paul speaks of angels, principalities,\nand powers, thus enumerating the different orders of angels, and\ndeclares their inability to separate us from the love of God, thus\nimplying that they can do nothing that does not accord with the will of\nthe Almighty,--that they have no power in themselves. Again, in writing\nto the Colossians, St. Paul speaks of things \u201cvisible and invisible,\u201d\nand enumerates thrones, dominions, principalities, and powers, while to\nthe Ephesians he declares that God has placed Christ above all these\norders of celestial beings.\n\nAfter the annunciations to Zacharias and the Virgin Mary, an angel next\nappears, in the New Testament story, to instruct Joseph concerning the\nmiraculous conception of Jesus. The appearance to the shepherds follows,\nof which I have spoken in connection with the subject of angelic choirs.\n\nAgain, Joseph was warned by an angel to flee into Egypt with Mary and\nthe young Child, to escape the anger of Herod. In ancient series of\npictures illustrating the life of St. Joseph, this scene was curiously\nportrayed, and but one modern painter, so far as I know, has been moved\nto represent it. In the Belvedere, in Vienna, there is an admirable\nDream of Joseph, by Anton Raphael Mengs.\n\nPictures of St. John the Baptist in the wilderness are variously\ntreated, and when he is represented as very young, he is attended by\nministering angels. This treatment is warranted by the legend which\nteaches that he was a mere child of seven or eight years, and is\nsupported by the word of St. Luke in the last verse of the first chapter\nof his Gospel, \u201cAnd the child grew, and waxed strong in spirit, and was\nin the deserts till the day of his shewing unto Israel.\u201d\n\nThe pictures of the Baptism of Christ are numerous, and the number of\nattendant angels is varied from two to four, as a rule, although there\nare examples with even a larger number. Raphael, Verrocchio, Paul\nVeronese, Francesco Albani, Perugino, Tintoretto, and many others\npainted fine pictures of this subject, which, besides its great interest\nfrom its importance in the life of the Saviour, affords an opportunity\nfor the representation of a beautiful landscape. The picture by Rubens\nexcels in this regard; and in his magnificent setting he has a group of\nabout thirty figures, producing the gorgeous effect which characterizes\nhis work, but failing to suggest the divinity of Christ, or the\ndevotional feeling of the works of Raphael or Verrocchio, and entirely\nlacking the tenderness of Lorenzo di Credi.\n\nThe Bible also contains various texts which authorize a belief in the\nexistence of Satan and his demons. Isaiah exclaims, \u201cHow art thou fallen\nfrom heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the Morning.\u201d St. Matthew speaks of the\ndevil and all his angels, and many other Biblical expressions warrant us\nin believing that the Spirit of Evil with his attendants is ever\ntempting men to sin, thus plainly warranting the Fathers in their\nteaching, to which we have referred.\n\nIt is not possible to picture the Temptation of Christ in an attractive\nmanner. Satan has been represented in various monstrous and repulsive\nforms by some artists, while others have given him such disguises as\nmight well deceive an ordinary mortal. He has thus been presented in the\ngarb and with the bearing of a venerable peasant, and again as a monk\nwith robe and cowl, but his especial symbols usually manifest\nthemselves, in spite of all disguises.\n\nThe picture by Ary Scheffer, in the Louvre, which our illustration\nreproduces, tells the story of the temptation very simply and directly.\nThe style of this painter, sad and almost hopeless, is well suited to\nsubjects of this nature. The contrast between the perfect serenity of\nthe Saviour, and the hideous anxiety and determination of Satan, renders\nthis representation as acceptable as so unlovely a subject can be made.\n\nIn Perugino\u2019s famous picture in the Sala del Incendio, in the Vatican,\nJesus and Satan are seen in mid-air, like a vision, while in the\nbackground,\n\n[Illustration: ARY SCHEFFER.--THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.]\n\nsurrounded by a dazzling light, another figure of Jesus is seen between\ntwo ministering angels, while the whole scene is encircled by a\nmultitude of cherubim and angels.\n\nIn some pictures of this subject angels are represented as if waiting to\nsupport the Master when he shall turn from the demon, but far more\nattractive than these are the representations in which Satan does not\nappear, and angels minister to Christ in the wilderness, as if\nillustrating these beautiful lines:\n\n    \u201cThey in a flowery valley set him down\n     On a green bank, and straight before him spread\n     A table of celestial food--divine\n     Ambrosial fruits, fetched from the Tree of Life--\n     And from the fount of life celestial drink.\n           And as he fed, angelic quires\n     Sang heavenly anthems.\u201d\n\nOne of Murillo\u2019s splendid works was founded on the account of the pool\nat Bethesda, as given in John v., 2-8. This was a favorite subject for\nhospitals, and Murillo painted it for a hospital in Seville, from which\nit was stolen by Marshal Soult.\n\nIn the foreground are Christ, the lame man, and three Apostles; in the\nbackground is the pool with its fine porches, above which, in a\nglorious, dazzling light, the angel hovers, as if about to descend to\nstir the waters.\n\nIt is a magnificent example of the wonderful power of Murillo. The\nbeauty and tenderness of the head of Christ, and the graciousness of his\nwhole bearing, affect the beholder as do few representations of our\nLord. The atmosphere is soft and translucent, the angel gently floats\nrather than flies, and the porches, while not too ornate, impart a\ndignified balance to the scene. The coloring is such as is peculiar to\nSpanish art, rich and subdued in contrast with that of the Italians.\nFor example, the red robe and blue mantle, so familiar in pictures of\nChrist, are here replaced by a rich violet color, most harmonious with\nthe sentiment of the scene.\n\nThere is an ancient picture of this subject in a church near Bologna,\nsupposed to be the work of two artists, Jacopo Avanzi, and Lippo\nd\u2019Almasio. In the same city, in the Church of San Giorgio, is the\npicture by Ludovico Caracci, which is, to say the least, very\ndecorative, and has been generously praised by some writers on Art. Many\nrepresentations of the pool of Bethesda are in hospitals,--as, for\nexample, that by Sebastian Conca at Siena,--rather than in galleries;\nfor this reason it is less familiar than are many other scenes in which\nangels are represented.\n\nThere are some subjects too sacred in their character and too\nspiritually subtle in their significance to be adequately pictured to\nthe eye. One of these, to my mind, is the Agony in the Garden of\nGethsemane. It has, however, appealed to many artists, and one must\nadmit that the night scene, the sleeping disciples, the suffering\nChrist, the consoling angel, the approaching traitor, and the dimly\ndiscerned city of Jerusalem afford unusually picturesque elements for an\neffective picture. All these have been artistically treated, but The\nDivine, the central thought in the scene, can scarcely be satisfactorily\nexpressed.\n\nA most surprising error that has frequently been made in pictures of\nthis subject, is that of giving undue prominence to the sleeping\ndisciples. Their figures are often placed in the very foreground, as if\nthe spectator should chiefly consider the unfortunate somnolence of\n\n[Illustration: SIR EDWARD BURNE-JONES.--MARY MAGDALENE AT THE\nSEPULCHRE.]\n\nthese men; by which means the figures of Jesus and the angel are made to\nappear as secondary. I have seen no picture in which the sleeping\ndisciples are satisfactorily introduced, and I greatly prefer certain\ncurious ancient representations of the Agony, in which Christ and the\nangel only are present.\n\nMany famous artists, from the time of Mantegna, have painted their\nconceptions of the wonderful scene in the Garden. Correggio has at least\nmade Jesus the chief person, and his angel is apparently suited to his\noffice of a comforter. Paul Veronese, Albert D\u00fcrer, and Rembrandt have\nall painted powerful pictures of this subject, and Ary Scheffer has\ndepicted the Agony of Christ with living vividness; but one and all of\nthese works fall so far short of one\u2019s highest conception of this\nwonderful event, that, except as examples of the design, coloring, and\nmanner of these masters, they appear to me of little value.\n\nThe visit of the women to the sepulchre of Christ is variously\nrepresented, as would naturally result from the different accounts given\nby the Evangelists. Some pictures represent Mary Magdalene alone, when\nshe saw two angels sitting where the body of Christ had lain, and almost\nimmediately beheld the risen Lord near by, as in our illustration after\nBurne-Jones. Again, the other women are pictured who saw two men in\nshining garments, and were told, \u201cHe is not here, but is risen;\u201d more\nfrequently the three Maries are represented coming to the sepulchre,\nbearing spices, and finding the guards paralyzed with terror, and an\nangel who tells them that the Lord is risen.\n\nThese scenes have been represented in Art from its earliest and rudest\nbeginning, and were rendered with perfect simplicity, strictly\nfollowing the clear scriptural account. Later, the guards were omitted,\nand the whole scene took on a more dramatic air, until, in the sixteenth\ncentury, this subject was rarely painted, and has not again resumed its\nearlier importance. It makes one in a series of subjects illustrating\nthe life of Christ, but is rarely seen as a separate work. Annibale\nCaracci painted a picture of the Women at the Sepulchre, which is now in\nthe Hermitage at St. Petersburg; and in Siena there still exists an\nexample of the same subject by Duccio, who lived in the thirteenth\ncentury.\n\nPictures of the Last Judgment, as usually painted, are illustrative of a\ncombination of scriptural teaching with the imaginative suggestions of\npreachers, writers on religious subjects, poets, and artists, and\nelements from the sacred legends. There is no scriptural warrant for the\npresence of Satan and his demons in this scene, horribly effective and\nimpressive as they are; but I have reason to think that this element is\nthoughtlessly accepted as authoritative by many who interest themselves\nin religious art.\n\nThis subject was not represented in sculpture or painting before the\neleventh century, and but rarely after that until three centuries later,\nwhen it was wonderfully portrayed, notably by Orcagna, in the Campo\nSanto at Pisa.\n\nThe portions of these pictures for which there is scriptural authority\nare important. Christ is the Judge in accordance with his own words,\nMatthew xvi., 27: \u201cFor the Son of man shall come in the glory of his\nFather with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to\nhis works.\u201d And still more emphatically in Matthew xxv., 31-46, where\nthe word-picture of the Judgment is a vividly realistic description of\nsome artistic representations of this scene.\n\nThe Apostles seated on each side of Christ are also warranted by his\nwords in Luke xxii., 30: \u201cThat ye may ... sit on thrones judging the\ntwelve tribes of Israel.\u201d The Virgin, St. John the Baptist, patriarchs,\nprophets, and saints are all admissible on the authority of St. Paul,\nwho says, I. Corinthians vi., 2: \u201cDo ye not know that the saints shall\njudge the world?\u201d And in the following sentence: \u201cKnow ye not that we\nshall judge angels?\u201d\n\nThe angels are deputed to \u201cgather together his elect from the four\nwinds,\u201d Mark xiii., 27, and those who fill this office are the trumpet\nangels in all these representations.\n\nThe division of those to be judged rests, on Daniel xii., 2: \u201cAnd many\nof them that sleep in the dust of the earth shall awake, some to\neverlasting life, and some to shame and everlasting contempt;\u201d and even\nmore positively on Christ\u2019s words in Matthew xxv., already referred to.\n\nIn the utter absence of scriptural warrant for the picturing of the\ndevil and his satellites, who seize, torture, and hurl into hell those\ndoomed to shame and endless contempt, what defence of it can be made?\nCertainly none from an artistic standpoint; and this consideration\nshould have prevented such representations. Artists should be\ncommiserated who could not sufficiently express the woe of the condemned\nby the wretchedness of their faces and manner, as, hearing the fatal\n\u201cDepart from me, ye cursed, into everlasting fire, prepared for the\ndevil and his angels,\u201d they go to the left, not daring\n\n[Illustration: FRA ANGELICO.--AN ANGEL CONDUCTING A SOUL TO HEAVEN.]\n\nto raise their eyes to Christ, nor even to look at the blessed of his\nkingdom.\n\nIt would be a pleasure to consider separately the different methods of\nrepresenting the Judge of all the world and those surrounding him, as\nseen in the works of the masters, but we are here concerned with the\nangels alone, of which, in nearly all these pictures, there are three\nclasses.\n\nThe angels who hold the cross, scourge, nails, crown of thorns, and\nother symbols of the Passion of Christ, emphasize the theological\nteaching that men are judged according to their acceptance or rejection\nof the Atonement by Christ for the sins of the world. In early pictures\nof the Judgment these angels stand on clouds, below the Judge, but later\nthey were depicted as hovering above the Judgment Seat. In whatever\nposition they are placed, they appear to attribute a vast importance to\nthe prominence of the symbols of the Passion. Fra Angelico happily\nplaces a single angel at the feet of Christ with the cross alone, as a\ncomplete symbol of the suffering and death of Jesus.\n\nThe trumpet angels vary in number from two to many, and are differently\nplaced according to the varying designs of the artists. Orcagna and Fra\nAngelico placed them below the Judge, thus indicating that their sound\ncould be heard in all the earth. In other pictures, they sound the\ntrumpets directly above the graves, which open, displaying the rising\ndead, startled from their long sleep and struggling to gain a foothold\non the earth above.\n\nThe third class of angels are those who announce their fate to all who\nare to be judged. They sometimes hold the balance in which souls are\nweighed; again, they direct those who come to judgment to the right or\nleft, as in our picture from the Last Judgment by Fra Angelico, in the\nFlorentine Academy; and, again, as in Orcagna\u2019s great picture in the\nCampo Santo at Pisa, a grand warrior angel, with splendid wings,--a true\nSt. Michael,--clad in full armor, with his sword by his side, a glorious\nhalo about his head, and the angelic flame above his brow, holds out two\nscrolls,--one of joy and one of woe,--on which are written the names of\nthe entire human race.\n\nThe pictures of the Last Judgment by Orcagna, Angelico, and Signorelli,\nin the Cathedral of Orvieto, and Michael Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel,\nare among the famous pictures of the world.\n\nThe Scriptures mention still other appearances of angels, as that to\nCornelius, when he was directed to send to Joppa for Peter; and, again,\nwhen Peter was in prison and the Church prayed for him, an angel led\nhim forth and the Apostle departed to Cesarea for safety.\n\nPhilip was sent by an angel to meet the Ethiopian eunuch, and teach him\nthe truth, after which he baptized the eunuch, and was then caught away\nby the Spirit, or angel of the Lord.\n\nAt times the angels were sent on missions of punishment, as when Herod,\nin the midst of his blasphemy, was smitten by God\u2019s messenger, and gave\nup the ghost.\n\nThese subjects are rich in artistic suggestion, and nearly all have been\nrepresented in painting or sculpture. The book of the Revelation, too,\nabounds in visions of angels, from the beginning, when an angel from\nheaven \u201csignified it\u201d to John the Divine, to the end, when the angel\nrefused to be worshipped, and declared himself the fellow servant of\nJohn, and of the prophets, and of all that keep the sayings of the\nbook.\n\n[Illustration: FRA BARTOLOMMEO.--AN ANGEL PLAYING THE VIOLIN.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\nPICTURES WHICH ILLUSTRATE BOTH SCRIPTURE AND LEGEND.\n\n\nIn whatever light one may regard the sacred legends of the early Church,\nit is not possible to understand the representations of angels in Art\nwithout some knowledge of these ancient traditions. One who knows\nnothing of them, finds himself strangely puzzled and disconcerted,\nbefore the almost numberless legendary subjects which he sees in\nchurches and galleries.\n\nFor example, if one knows nothing of the legend of St. Catherine of\nAlexandria, how can he explain the picture of her mystic marriage to the\nInfant Jesus, which typifies her renunciation of all earthly things,\nand her complete dedication of herself to the service of Christ and his\nChurch?\n\nSt. Catherine is habitually represented with a wheel beside her. When\nthe wheel is whole, it is a symbol of the torture with which she was\nthreatened by the Emperor Maximin; when broken, it is a token of the\nmiracle by which she was saved from a horrible death.\n\nDuring the many years that have passed since my first visit to the\ngallery of the Louvre, I have retained a vivid remembrance of my\ndiscontent before the beautiful picture of St. Margaret. The pleasure\nthat I should have taken in the lovely face and exquisite figure of the\nsaint, in the graceful drapery, and other details of this celebrated\npicture, was utterly lost through my ignorance. I did not know why she\nwas standing on the frightful\n\n[Illustration: LORENZO DI CREDI.--AN ANGEL IN ADORATION.]\n\ndragon, with his horrible mouth wide open, and his terrible claw raised\nas if to clutch the beautiful maiden.\n\nAs a consequence of this experience, I resolved to study the religious\nsymbolism of the early Christian Church, as I had already studied that\nof the religion of the classic ages. How frequently now, as then, I meet\nthose who perfectly understand the significance of the head of Medusa,\nor the lyre of Orpheus, who have no conception of the reason for the\nrepresentation of a church in the hand of St. Jerome, or of the serpent\nin the chalice of St. John the Evangelist.\n\nThere are numerous pictures, in which angels are introduced, that are\nfounded on the Scripture story, but do not follow it strictly. Many\nsubjects are so suggestive of the presence of angels, that there is a\nlegitimate artistic license for introducing them into these scenes.\n\nFor example, the Scripture account of the ministration of angels to\nJesus, after the Temptation and after the Agony in the Garden, naturally\nsuggests their presence on other occasions of his suffering, and renders\ntheir introduction quite permissible.\n\nThus, in the picture of Christ after the Flagellation, in the Monasterio\nMaggiore in Milan, by Luini, which is full of the wonderful tenderness\nof that master, there is no angel; while Velasquez, in his picture of\nthe same subject, which is in a private collection in England,\nintroduces such a presence.\n\nSo in the story of the Ecce Homo no angel is mentioned, and the usual\ndevotional picture represents the half figure of Christ, or the head\nalone, wearing the crown of thorns. The historical picture portrays the\nscene before Pilate, with a number of figures. Some artists, however,\nhave presented this subject differently, as in the picture by Moretto,\nin the Museo Tosi in Brescia.\n\nThis shows the Saviour seated upon the steps of a building, probably\nthat in which was the \u201ccommon hall,\u201d in which the soldiers crowned him.\nHe still holds the reed sceptre, though his hands are bound; the cross\nis on the ground before him, and his head is bowed upon his breast. On\nthe steps behind him, and a little above, stands a weeping angel,\nholding the garment of Christ as if about to wrap it around him. The\nexpression in the convulsed face of the angel is remarkable. It is as if\nhe endeavored to restrain his tears, but could not. A much later picture\nby Landelle, called the Angel of Tears, is similar to that of Moretto in\nsentiment; in it a weeping angel kneels before a crown of thorns, his\ntears falling over his cheeks.\n\nAngels are also represented in pictures of the Crucifixion; in fact,\nthey were never absent in the earliest pictures of this subject,\nalthough they were but few in number, and were extremely realistic in\ntheir treatment, being precisely like ordinary men with wings added to\ntheir shoulders. Later their number was largely increased, and they\nbecame less human and extremely passionate in the expression of their\nsorrow in beholding the agony of Jesus. Giotto and Cavallini introduce\nan element of absurdity into this momentous scene, by representing\nextremely human little angels as tearing open their plump little breasts\nin their despair.\n\nThis extreme realism was sometimes carried to the extent of picturing\nangels with chalices, catching the blood which flowed from the hands and\nside of Jesus. In accordance with true symbolism, a female figure,\nimpersonating the Church, should hold the chalice to the side alone.\n\n[Illustration: From a Copley Print, copyright, 1897, by Curtis and\nCameron.\n\nFRENCH.--DEATH STAYING THE HAND OF THE SCULPTOR.]\n\nDuccio da Siena, a generation earlier than Giotto, displayed a more\nsubtle perception, and grouped a numerous company of angels in a half\ncircle above the cross, in his famous picture of the Crucifixion, which\nis one of the treasures of his native city. Two of them kiss the dead\nhands; others cover their faces; some have thrown themselves down prone\nupon the clouds; while still others, as if mindful of their duties as\nmessengers, are flying upwards to bear the news to the courts above.\n\nIn a few Crucifixions, in which the three crosses appear, angels are\nreceiving the soul of the penitent thief, while demons quarrel over that\nof the unrepentant criminal. Unpleasant as this treatment is, it is the\nlogical result of the belief that a good or bad angel attended every\ndeath, and bore the soul to St. Michael for judgment, as is depicted in\nmany ancient works of art. The spirits of the blessed are tenderly\ncarried skyward, but the translation of lost souls is attended with some\nrevolting details.\n\nGradually fewer angels were represented at the Crucifixion, and an\napparently unwritten law limited them to two or three with chalices;\nindeed, for a time this scene was far less frequently pictured.\n\nLuini and Gaudenzio Ferrari, Lombard painters of the fifteenth century,\nagain portrayed so many angels, and such numberless little winged heads,\nthat the upper portions of their Crucifixions were alive with them.\nThese artists, with their refined tenderness of manner, created angels\nthat have rarely, if ever, been excelled in what may be termed a genuine\nangelic quality. Especially is this true of Gaudenzio; the lamenting\nangels above his Crucifixion, in the church at Varallo, are among the\nmost satisfactory representations of angels that occur in any picture\nof this scene.\n\nIf the Resurrection of Christ is to be represented, the angel is\nappropriately present; but as no account of the scene is given in the\nBible, and no one witnessed it, each artist who portrayed it was at\nliberty to give his imagination full play in his work. For a long time\nthere were no pictures of this subject, its treatment being confined to\ncarvings in ivory, on shrines and other small objects. The greater\nnumber of artists apparently esteemed it as too sacred, as well as too\ntremendous, a subject to be adequately conceived and satisfactorily\npresented.\n\nSo far as I can learn, the Resurrection was first painted by Giotto, as\none of a series of small pictures upon a press for the sacred vessels in\nthe Church of Santa Croce in Florence; it is now in the Academy of that\ncity. In this picture there is no angel. Fra Angelico represents the\nMaries talking with the angel, while Christ is suspended in air above\nthem. By degrees the designs for this subject were modified, until, in\nthe picture in the Vatican which has been attributed to Perugino, the\nrising Christ, bearing the banner of victory, is worshipped by two\nangels. This work is now believed to be by Raphael, as his authenticated\nstudies for it are in the Oxford Collection.\n\nPerhaps it is to be regretted that the illustration of this supremely\nmystical subject was ever attempted in Art. I cannot imagine that any\nexisting picture of it should be seriously approved as a whole, although\ncertain figures or details may be sincerely admired.\n\nThe Ascension of Christ is another mystical subject, which was long\nunattempted in a realistic portrayal of the scene as described in the\nNew Testament. Ancient ivories show Jesus as grasping the hand of God\nextended to him through the clouds, and being thus drawn up from earth.\nIn the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Scripture expression, \u201che\nwas taken up,\u201d was given a literal meaning, and the figure of Jesus was\nrepresented in the mandorla,--the oblong glory in which Christ, the\nVirgin, or saints are represented when ascending to heaven,--which was\nborne by angels to a certain height, when a cloud received him out of\nsight.\n\nAs with the Resurrection so with the Ascension, Giotto was bold enough\nto attempt representing the scene in accordance with the scriptural\ndescription, and painted his idea of it on the walls of the Arena\nChapel, in Padua. In the centre of the lower part of the picture are two\nangels, who, with raised hands, direct the attention of the kneeling\nVirgin, and groups of Apostles, also kneeling, to Christ, already\nsoaring far above them, accompanied by numerous worshipping angels, who\nare on both sides, at some distance apart from him.\n\nThis fresco is much injured, but is highly valued for the sublimity of\nits composition. No angel aids Christ to rise. He is apparently able to\nfulfil his own words, \u201cAnd I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will\ndraw all men unto me.\u201d\n\nMany pictures of the Ascension are seen in galleries, and it became a\nfavorite subject for the decoration of church vaults and cupolas,\nespecially in Greek churches. Correggio\u2019s Ascension, in the Church of\nSan Giovanni, in Parma, is famous wherever Christian art is studied.\nThis master depicted numberless little angels flying here and there,\nriding on clouds or mischievously peeping from behind them, chasing\neach other as in some boisterous game, and by their levity and\nfrolicsomeness destroying all seriousness of effect, in spite of the\nsolemnity of the Evangelists and Reverend Fathers in the angles of the\nvault below.\n\nThis picture must not, however, be taken as irreverent. Evidently\nCorreggio wished to convey the idea that the Ascension of Christ was an\noccasion of joy to the angels, to whom his earthly pilgrimage and\nsufferings had given a certain seriousness,--not sorrow, because angels\nare happy, and not subject to human wants and weakness.\n\nNow the great work was accomplished, and even the angels were rejoicing\nthat the Son should again resume his place at the right hand of the\nFather, until the time when he should come again with glorious majesty\nto judge both the quick and the dead.\n\nOne readily perceives how rich a field for the artistic imagination\nthese mystical subjects presented. But in a comprehensive study of them,\nit is curious to note the effect upon works of Art of the dogmas of the\ntheologians, as they were promulgated from time to time. In some cases,\nespecially in Spain, rules were prescribed for the manner in which\nreligious subjects should be represented, and no artist dared depart\nfrom them.\n\nIn the representations of angels, however, there was a larger liberty\nthan in the doctrinal subjects of religious art, and to this we owe the\npossession of many precious works of sculptors and painters, which are\nnever outgrown, and of which we never weary.\n\n[Illustration: ROSSETTI.--THE ANNUNCIATION.]\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\nANGELS IN PICTURES OF THE VIRGIN MARY.\n\n\nThe pictures of the Madonna, or Virgin Mary, may be divided into two\nclasses; the devotional, which illustrate the doctrines or teaching of\nthe early Church, and the historical, or the representation of the\nactual scenes in the life of the Mother of Christ.\n\nWhen the Virgin is represented wearing a crown or bearing a sceptre, and\nattended by worshipping angels, she is in the character of the Queen of\nAngels. The earlier examples of these pictures, as seen in the\nFlorentine Academy, and in the Churches of Santa Maria Novella and Santa\nCroce in Florence, are charming in their simplicity, and represent a\nmajestic and mystical womanhood, which entitles them to consideration as\nworks of Art. But later, especially in the seventeenth century, these\npictures degenerated into portraits of the self-conscious, unintelligent\nprettiness of the models from whom they were painted. This subject was a\nfavorite one with certain decadent artists, and the contrast between the\nmost ancient and the later pictures of it, gives one a strong impression\nof the lack of reverence or ideality in men who could thus represent\nthat holy woman, whose heart found expression in her beautiful hymn,\nbeginning, \u201cMy soul doth magnify the Lord,\u201d St. Luke i., 46. These\npictures have neither the humility, the intellectual power, nor the\nsublime faith which the face of the Virgin Mary should express.\n\nA favorite devotional picture was the\n\n[Illustration: FRANCESCO GRANACCI.--THE VIRGIN AND ANGELS.]\n\nCoronation of the Virgin. This representation is an emblem of the Church\nTriumphant, and is one of the most beautiful, as it was one of the most\napproved, of the Middle Ages. It appeals to all hearts, since it\npictures the reunion of the Mother and Son in heaven, after their\nseparation by his death, and shows him no longer despised and rejected,\nbut reigning in the fullness of power, and exalting his mother above men\nand angels, welcoming her to his throne, and placing a glorious crown\nupon her head.\n\nIn the most ancient Coronations, which are very interesting, no angels\nappear. From the time of Giotto,--the beginning of the fourteenth\ncentury,--however, angels were witnesses of this scene. Fra Angelico\u2019s\nCoronation, in the Louvre, in which the Virgin kneels to be crowned, has\na group of musical angels on each side. One of the most interesting\npictures of this subject that I have seen is in the Academy of Venice,\nby Vivarini, an artist of the island of Murano, who lived in the\nfifteenth century.\n\nIt is a very large picture, having a throne in the centre, magnificently\nornamented and upheld by six pillars on a splendid pedestal. Christ and\nthe Virgin are seated on the throne, he already crowned, and engaged in\nplacing the crown on the head of Mary. The celestial dove hovers between\nthem, and the Heavenly Father appears above, and rests a hand on the\nshoulder of each. Above are nine choirs of angels; nearest are the\nglowing seraphim and cherubim having wings but otherwise so indistinct\nas to be formless; above these are thrones, holding the globe of\nsovereignty; to the right are dominations, virtues, powers, and to the\nleft princedoms, archangels, and angels. In the lower portion of the\nsame picture are prophets and Patriarchs with the Hebrew Scriptures, the\nApostles with the Gospel, saints and martyrs, virgins and holy women,\nlovely children bearing the cross, nails, spear, and crown of thorns,\nand the Evangelists and Fathers of the Church. There are at least\nseventy heads in this picture without the angels; the children are\nbeautiful, and all are finished with great delicacy and care. It is an\ninvaluable example of symbolic art, as well as an exponent of an entire\nsystem of theology.\n\nThe Coronation was often a most splendid picture, as it warranted the\nuse of magnificent draperies and other accessories. It was also a joyous\npicture. Every figure introduced had an air of happiness, and the angels\nwere especially glad.\n\nIn the picture known as the Mother of Mercy, the Virgin is often\nattended by angels. In ancient pictures and bas-reliefs of this\nsubject, she was frequently standing and wearing a long, full cloak,\nlike that of St. Ursula, which was held aside by two angels, thus\ndisclosing groups of kneeling suppliants, praying to her for mercy.\n\nVery often in this picture the Virgin holds the Infant Jesus in her\narms. In other fine examples,--notably in the masterpiece of Fra\nBartolommeo, in the Church of St. Romano, in Lucca,--the figure of\nChrist surrounded by angels is seen in the clouds, as if he aided in\nthese works of compassion. Such pictures are numerous in hospitals and\ncharitable institutions, especially in those that are in the care of the\nOrder of Mercy, where they are singularly appropriate. A bas-relief\nabove the entrance to the Scuola della Caritas, in Venice, is a fine\nexample of this subject.\n\nPictures of the so-called Piet\u00e0, represent the Virgin holding the body\nof the dead Christ on her knees. The greatest artists whose works are\nknown to us have represented this subject in sculpture and painting.\nWhen it is a strictly devotional work, the Virgin, the Christ, and\nmourning angels are the only figures admissible. There are many examples\nin which there are no angels, the Mother being alone with the dead\nChrist.\n\nThe Piet\u00e0 by Francia, in the National Gallery, is very beautiful in\nsentiment, and in execution is full of the tenderness of this master.\nThe Christ is supported by two angels, and the Virgin, with an\nexpression of anguish, seems to look at the beholder as if beseeching\nsympathy.\n\nIn the sublimely pathetic marble group, by Michael Angelo, in a chapel\nof the Vatican, there are no angels, but we have engravings of another\nPiet\u00e0 by this master, in which the Virgin sits at the foot of the\ncross, her eyes raised and her arms extended towards heaven, while two\nangels support the Christ, seated lower down, and leaning against the\nknees of the Virgin. According to the custom of Michael Angelo, these\nangels have no wings, but their expression is such as would make it\nimpossible to mistake them for earthly children.\n\nThere were no pictures of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary\nuntil the seventeenth century, when Spanish and Italian artists vied\nwith each other in representing this subject, and these works may be\nsaid to abound in angels.\n\nWhen the Virgin stands on the moon with full sunlight surrounding her,\nand wearing the crown of twelve stars, she is the personification of the\nwoman described in the twelfth chapter of the Book of Revelation.\n\n[Illustration: FRANCESCO FRANCIA.--A PIET\u00c0.]\n\nThe dogma of the Immaculate Conception of the Virgin was much in favor\nwith the Spanish Church before its confirmation by the bull of Pope Paul\nV. in 1617, which was welcomed in Seville, not only by the most solemn\nreligious services, but also by the booming of cannon, and the\ncelebration of bull-fights, tournaments, and banquets. Spain and all its\ncolonies were placed under the protection of the Immaculate Conception.\nEven now, almost three centuries after this event, it is not unusual for\nSpaniards to use the salute, \u201cAve Maria purissima!\u201d the response being,\n\u201cSin peccado concepida!\u201d\n\nNot long after the publication of the bull, Pacheco laid down rules for\nthe representation of this subject in Art, which have been\nconscientiously followed. The Virgin is very young, her hair golden, her\nrobe white, and her mantle blue. The angels near her bear roses,\nlilies, and palms. She stands on the moon, wears the starry crown, and\nthe vanquished dragon is beneath her. As the Franciscans were always\nenthusiastically devoted to this dogma, it was usual to represent the\ngirdle of the Virgin by the cord of the Franciscans.\n\nMurillo, the painter of this subject _par excellence_, was not strictly\nbound by Pacheco\u2019s rules. He adhered to the colors prescribed for the\ndrapery; he varied the tint of the hair, and often was not careful to\nrepresent the cord of St. Francis. He never omitted the moon, but it was\nsometimes full rather than in the crescent, and he pointed the horns\nupward, while Pacheco directed them to point downward; and he usually\nomitted the starry crown. But so satisfactory were Murillo\u2019s Immaculate\nConceptions that he was never accused of being unorthodox.\n\n[Illustration: MURILLO.--THE IMMACULATE CONCEPTION.]\n\nOther pictures of the Madonna, by this great Spanish master, are wanting\nin the characteristics which he invariably gives the Virgin in this\nsubject. Others are commonplace, and might be duplicated among Spanish\npeasant women; but the Virgin of his Conceptions are ideal. Spotlessly\npure, full of grace and repose, exquisite in refinement and delicacy,\nher hands folded on her breast, and her sweetly serious eyes raised as\nin prayer, she seems a fitting companion to the angels about her, but\nall unsuited to the sufferings of the life before her.\n\nMurillo painted this picture twenty-five times, and no two of these\nworks are exactly the same, although the differences are sometimes\nslight. The angels are so numerous that they seem to fill all space, and\nto be coming forward in still greater numbers out of the depths of the\nsky. If the dragon is there, he is concealed by these lovely, spiritual\nattendants on the queen of their order.\n\nGuido Reni painted several pictures of this subject which was well\nsuited to the master of the Aurora, and afforded full play to his ideal\nof beauty, and his delicacy of execution.\n\nBut it was in the Spanish school that these pictures were multiplied,\nand this is not strange when we remember that every candidate admitted\nto the academy of painting in Seville was required to declare his full\nbelief in \u201cthe most pure conception of Our Lady.\u201d\n\nMr. Stirling, in his handbook of Spain, speaks of a Conception by\nRoelas, painted before the time of Murillo, which he calls \u201cequal to\nGuido.\u201d Velasquez also painted a fine Conception, probably before the\nrules of Pacheco were known, as the Virgin\u2019s robe is violet, and she has\nno unusual beauty. It is, however, a solemn and remarkable work in the\nbold, early style of this great artist.\n\nIn the ancient pictures of the Enthroned Madonna there are always\nattendant angels; in some later works they are omitted. In this subject\nthe Madonna holds the Infant Jesus on her lap, and is surrounded by\nangels. The earliest Enthroned Madonnas represent the Virgin seated\nbetween the Archangels St. Michael and St. Gabriel, as symbolic of life\nand death. This representation dates from the eighth century in the\ncarved ivories of the Greek Church, and was repeated in sculpture and\nglass painting during six or seven hundred years.\n\nLater St. Gabriel appears in the Annunciation only, but as St. Michael\nwas the guardian of Jesus and his mother in their earthly life, he is\noften beside them, as well as St. Raphael, the guardian spirit of all\nhuman beings. Perugino presents both these guardian archangels in his\nlovely picture in the National Gallery.\n\nThis is one of the rare examples in which the three archangels are seen\ntogether, each with his appropriate symbol.\n\nIn the usual picture of this subject the Madonna is literally enthroned,\nher throne being rich and decorative. Raphael, however, placed her on\nthe clouds, the child standing beside her, and the angels below, rather\nthan above them. This might be called the Madonna in Glory, although she\nis seated on the clouds as on a throne.\n\nAngels were represented as attendant upon the Virgin very early in the\nhistory of Art. Even the ancient mosaics of Ravenna show them about her\nthrone, and as her office of Queen of Angels\n\n[Illustration: SANDRO BOTTICELLI.--MADONNA AND ANGELS.]\n\ncame to be more and more considered, angels were represented as adoring\nher, sustaining her throne, and performing a variety of services, the\nmost charming being that of the musical angels.\n\nWhen Art reached the height of the fifteenth century, the angelic\nchoristers were exquisite in beauty and in sentiment, as they knelt or\nstood near the Virgin, or sat upon the steps of her throne, playing upon\nlute and pipe, or singing as only angels can.\n\nThere are so-called half-length Enthroned Madonnas, in which the Virgin\nand Child and angels alone appear. Occasionally the Infant St. John the\nBaptist is introduced in these pictures, as in the illustration here\ngiven, after Botticelli.\n\nThe picture known as the Mater Amabilis, in which the Madonna caresses\nthe Child, or tenderly gazes at him, rarely has the angelic attendants,\nbut Gian Bellini filled the background of such a picture with winged\ncherub heads.\n\nThere are two classes of pictures of the Madonna and Child, in which the\nlittle St. John Baptist is present. When St. John adores Jesus, kisses\nhis feet, or in any way seems to recognize his superiority, it is a\npurely devotional picture, while a great number of others are simply\ndomestic, friendly scenes. In all of these angels appear in varying\nnumbers.\n\nAn exquisite picture, by Filippino Lippi, shows the kneeling Virgin\nadoring the Child, who rests on the ground, while near by the little St.\nJohn also kneels. The group is surrounded by five angels, one of whom\nscatters roses over the Infant, while the others worship him with folded\nhands.\n\nAmong the historical and legendary subjects illustrative of the life of\nthe Virgin, are those connected with her parents, Joachim and Anna, her\nNativity and Presentation in the Temple, and her life there,--her\nMarriage and all the scenes preceding the Annunciation. Of the latter I\nhave written in connection with the Angel Gabriel. Many of these\npictures are very beautiful, and angels are frequently introduced in\nthem.\n\nAfter the Annunciation follows the Visitation, or the Salutation of\nElizabeth. I know of but one fine picture of this scene--by\nPinturicchio--in which angels are present at the meeting of the Holy\nWomen. It is a poetic conception, and the humility of the two angels,\nwith downcast eyes and folded hands, gives them the appearance of\nattendants on the journey of the Virgin, rather than that of witnesses\nof the Salutation.\n\nThe Nativity of Christ, the Adoration of the Shepherds, and the\nAdoration of the Magi--Wise Men--have been represented in a variety of\nways, and are subjects easily distinguished. The first two are most\neffective when treated with perfect simplicity, with no accessories\nunsuited to the humble condition of Joseph and Mary and the Shepherds;\nwith such scenes the presence of the angels is in perfect harmony. The\nNativity by Albertinelli, in the Uffizi Gallery, and the Adoration of\nthe Shepherds by Correggio, in the Dresden gallery, are fine examples of\nthese subjects.\n\nThe Adoration of the Magi, or Kings, as the legends call them, admits of\nall the splendor that an artist desires to depict. Many pictures of this\nscene display magnificent collections of vases, ewers, and other vessels\nof gold and silver, while the costumes, jewelled diadems, and chains of\nthe Kings, are as gorgeous in texture and color as Veronese, Rubens,\nRembrandt, and other artists could make them. Veronese perhaps excelled\nall others in making his Adoration of the Kings, in the Dresden gallery,\nan imposing and gorgeous pageant.\n\nAngels are by no means a necessary part of this scene, but are always\npresent in the earliest representations of it. A poetic element is\nimparted to this picture when the angelic announcement of the birth of\nJesus to the Shepherds is introduced in the background; or when the star\nwhich directed the Magi in their course appears in the sky, surrounded\nby angel heads.\n\nIn representations of the Flight into Egypt, which Joseph had been\ndirected to make, by an angel in a dream, these heavenly attendants are\nseen bringing fruits and flowers to the travellers, pitching their\ntents, leading the ass on which the Virgin rides, watching over them by\nnight, and serving them by day.\n\nSo in the Repose in Egypt,--one of the most charming of these kindred\nsubjects,--the attendant angels are a delightful feature, and so varied\nare their occupations, and so fanciful the conceits of the painters of\nthis scene, that many pages might be devoted to a description of them.\nFor example, Van Dyck, in his picture in the Ashburton collection, has\nrepresented the Virgin seated under a spreading tree, holding the Child,\nwhile a number of angels dance in a round to the music made by other\nangels in the clouds above.\n\nLucas Cranach shows the angels washing linen; Albert D\u00fcrer represents\nSt. Joseph as shaping a piece of wood with his axe; some of the many\nangels present gather up the chips and put them in baskets; others dance\nand frolic merrily\n\n[Illustration: VAN DYCK.--THE REPOSE IN EGYPT.]\n\nabout the group, while still other more serious angels,--probably\nguardian spirits,--devoutly folding their hands, stand or kneel around\nthe cradle of the Infant Jesus.\n\nTitian, in one of his pictures of this subject, introduced a little\nangel who waters the ass in a stream. Rembrandt gives his Repose the air\nof a gipsy camp, which is emphasized by the fact that the only light\ncomes from a lantern hung on a tree. I do not know who painted a Repose\nthat I have seen, to which a very human feeling is imparted by St.\nJoseph; he is shaking his fist at the ass, which has opened its mouth to\nbray.\n\nIn the almost numberless representations of the Madonna and Child, and\nof the Holy Family, angels are frequently introduced. These subjects are\nso easily recognized, and, speaking generally, are so simply treated as\nto require no comment here.\n\nI have referred to the legend that an angel announced the approach of\ndeath to the Virgin Mary, and have explained the difference between the\nsymbolism of this subject, and that of the Annunciation of the birth of\nJesus, all of which is made clear by our illustration.\n\nIn pictures of the death scene there are always angels present, in\ngreater or lesser numbers. In the representations of the Assumption of\nthe Virgin she is sometimes borne upward by angels, and again she\nascends without aid. In all cases she is attended by choirs of angels,\nas in the magnificent Assumption by Titian, which is the pride of the\nAcademy in Venice.\n\nIn the purely devotional Assumptions such as that sculptured above the\nportal of the Cathedral of Florence,--the Santa Maria del Fiore,--the\nVirgin is within the mandorla, or almond-shaped aureole. She is clothed\nin white and wears a veil\n\n[Illustration: TITIAN.--THE ASSUMPTION OF THE VIRGIN.]\n\nand crown; her hands are joined and she ascends in a glory of light,\nsurrounded by angels. The only special difference in these sculptures is\nthe position of the Virgin, who sometimes sits, and again stands\nupright, in the mandorla. When the representation corresponds to this,\nexcept that the Virgin has no crown, it may more properly be called the\nGlorification of the Virgin.\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nBesides the representations of angels who make a part of the devotional\nand historical scenes in the lives of Christ and the Virgin, of the\nEvangelists, Apostles, and Fathers of the Church, there are a great\nnumber that illustrate the legends of the saints. For example, that of\nSt. Cecilia, whose music charmed even the angelic choirs, so that the\nangels brought to her the roses of Paradise, is one of the most\nbeautiful.\n\nAfter the death of St. Catherine of Alexandria, angels bore her body to\nthe top of Mount Sinai, as represented in our illustration by M\u00fccke.\n\nWhen St. Christina was beaten and thrown into a dungeon, angels bound up\nher wounds, and St. Agatha was comforted by them in her prison.\n\nThese are a few examples of the numerous appearances of angels in the\nlegends of the saints.\n\nPerhaps there are no artistic representations that appeal to a greater\nnumber of people, of all possible types, than do those of angels, in\nboth sculpture and painting. One reason for this seems to me to be that\nangels represent our highest ideal of created beings,--beings that we\ncan only realize through the power of imagination, either our own\nimagination or that of another. It may be that of a writer, who, in a\nvivid word-picture, conjures up before us a vision of beings that we\nhave not seen, as do Dante and Milton. Or it may be a sculptor or\npainter who, rendering his own ideal, helps us to see with his eyes and\nto accept or reject his work as it appeals to, or repels us.\n\nThis recalls the words of Ruskin when he says that the noblest use of\nimagination is to \u201cenable us to bring sensibly to our sight the things\nwhich are recorded as belonging to our future state, or as invisibly\nsurrounding us in this. It is given us, that we may imagine the cloud of\nwitnesses in heaven and earth, and see, as if they were now present, the\nsouls of the righteous waiting for us; that we may conceive the great\narmy of the inhabitants of heaven, and discover among them those whom we\nmost desire to be with forever; that we may be able to vision forth the\nministry of angels beside us, and see the chariots of fire on the\nmountains that gird us round; but, above all, to call up the scenes and\nfacts in which we are commanded to believe, and be present, as if in the\nbody, at every recorded event of the history of the Redeemer.\u201d\n\nWith such a thought in mind, it is well worth while to study the various\ntypes of angels which are a rich portion of the legacies of the artists\nto the world. It is surely right to attempt to imagine the glories of a\nsphere beyond this,--a heaven of purity and glory. One of the most\npowerful aids to this imagination is the contemplation of religious\npictures, especially those that were executed with such reverence and\nsincerity as make them appear to reproduce actual scenes, and, for the\ntime, carry us out of ourselves and into the imaginary earth and heaven\nof the master whose works we study.\n\nThus we may leave this brief review of the subject of Angels in Art,\nfeeling that its further development by each reader for himself is a\npursuit in harmony with St. Paul\u2019s admonition: \u201cWhatsoever things are\npure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good\nreport; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on\nthese things.\u201d\n\n\nTHE END.\n\n\n\n\nINDEX.\n\n\nA\n\nAbraham, 50.\n\nAcademy of Florence, 125, 215.\n\nActs of the Holy Angels, The, 130.\n\nAdoration of the Magi, The, 248.\n\nAdoration of the Shepherds, The, 248.\n\nAgatha, St., 258.\n\nAgony; in Gethsemane, Pictures of the, 186, 187, 208.\n\nAlbani, Francesco, 39, 178.\n\nAlbertinelli, 248.\n\nAllori, Alessandro, 98.\n\nAlmasio, Lippo d\u2019, 185.\n\nAmbrose, Hymn of St., 17.\n\nAndrea del Sarto, 110, 159.\n\nAngel Wings, 19-25.\n\nAngels, Orders of, 15-19.\n\nAngelic Drapery, 32.\n\nAngelico, Fra, 36, 59, 99, 100, 103, 150, 151, 198, 199, 216, 227.\n\nAngelo, Castle of Sant\u2019, 77.\n\nAnnunciation, The, 86-104.\n\nArchangels, Office of the, 18.\n\nArena Chapel, Padua, 217.\n\nArezzo, Spinello d\u2019, 66.\n\nAscension of Christ, Pictures of the, 216-220.\n\nAshburton Collection, The, 250.\n\nAssumption of the Virgin, Pictures of the, 70, 149, 254.\n\nAubert, St., 78.\n\nAvanzi, Jacopo, 185.\n\nAvranches, Normandy, 78.\n\n\nB\n\nBabylon, 25.\n\n\u201cBannerer of Heaven,\u201d 55.\n\nBaptism of Christ, Pictures of the, 178.\n\nBartolommeo, Fra, 230.\n\nBel and the Dragon, Story of, 76.\n\nBellini, Gian, 150, 246.\n\nBelvedere, The, Vienna, 110, 163, 177.\n\nBenozzo, Gozzoli, 39.\n\nBiliverti, Giovanni, 119.\n\n\u201cBird of God,\u201d 45.\n\nBlake, William, 167.\n\nBotticelli, Sandro, 125, 151, 245.\n\nBrera, The, 163.\n\nBrescia, Museo Tosi, 209.\n\nBurne-Jones, Sir Edward, 190.\n\n\nC\n\nCampo Santo, The, Pisa, 23, 192, 199.\n\nCaracci, Annibale, 191.\n\n  \u201c  Ludovico, 185.\n\n  \u201c  The, 39.\n\nCarotto, Pictures by, 120-125.\n\nCatherine of Alexandria, St., 73, 203, 258.\n\nCavallini, 210.\n\nCecilia, St., 257.\n\nChaldeans, The, 13, 52.\n\nChamuel, 49.\n\nCherubim, The, 16-19.\n\nChoirs of Angels, The Nine, 16.\n\nChoristers, Angelic, 17.\n\nChristina, St., 258.\n\nComforting of Elijah, The, 166, 167.\n\nConca, Sebastian, 185.\n\nCoronation of the Virgin, Pictures of the, 28, 227-229.\n\nCorreggio, 39, 218, 219, 248.\n\nCortona, Cathedral of, 57.\n\n  \u201c  Pietro da, 163.\n\nCouncillors, Angelic, 17.\n\nCranach, Lucas, 250.\n\nCredi, Lorenzo di, 179.\n\nCrucifixion, Pictures of the, 210-214.\n\nCyrus, King, 76.\n\n\nD\n\nDante, 17, 41, 45, 87, 130, 259.\n\nDella Robbia, 150.\n\nDionysius the Areopagite, 16, 17.\n\nDominations, 17.\n\nDrapery of Angels, 32.\n\nDream of Joseph, Picture of the, 177.\n\nDresden Gallery, 27, 159, 248, 249.\n\nDuccio da Siena, 191, 218.\n\nDulwich Gallery, 166.\n\nD\u00fcrer, Albert, 189, 250.\n\n\nE\n\nEcce Homo, Pictures of, 208, 209.\n\nEgypt, 25.\n\nEnthroned Madonna, Pictures of the, 241-245.\n\nErcolani, Count, 168.\n\nEscurial, The, 128.\n\nEtruria, 25.\n\nExpulsion of Heliodorus, The, 40.\n\n\nF\n\nFerrari, Gaudenzio, 214.\n\nFlight into Egypt, The, 249.\n\nFlorence, Academy of, 59, 149, 199, 223.\n\nFlorence, Cathedral of, 254.\n\nFlorentine Academy, The, 81, 88, 99.\n\nFontainebleau, 60.\n\nFour Beasts, The, 170, 171.\n\nFrancia, 231.\n\nFrancis I., 60.\n\n\nG\n\nGabriel, 48.\n\nGalgano, Monte, 78.\n\nGarden of Eden, 49.\n\nGaudenzio Ferrari, 214.\n\nGhiberti, 149.\n\nGhirlandajo, 150.\n\nGiorgio, Church of San, Bologna, 185.\n\nGiotto, 35, 39, 210, 213, 215, 217, 227.\n\nGiovanni, Church of San, Padua, 218.\n\nGlorification of the Virgin, Pictures of the, 70.\n\nGlory of Angels, A, 25.\n\nGnostics, The, 52.\n\nGovernors, Angelic, 17.\n\nGranacci, Francesco, 151.\n\nGreat Litanies, The, 77.\n\nGregorio, Church of San, Rome, 70.\n\nGuercino, 163.\n\nGuido Reni, 39, 62, 65, 156, 240.\n\n\nH\n\nHabakkuk, The Prophet, 76, 77.\n\nHadrian, Mausoleum of, 77.\n\nHeliodorus, The Expulsion of, 40.\n\nHemshirk, 77.\n\nHenry VII., Tomb of, 73.\n\nHermitage, The, 160, 165, 191.\n\nHierarchies of Angels, 16-19.\n\nHoly Family, Pictures of the, 253.\n\nHymn of St. Ambrose, 17.\n\n\nI\n\nImmaculate Conception of the Virgin Mary, Pictures of the, 232-240.\n\n\nJ\n\nJameson, Mrs., 24, 68, 167.\n\nJohn of Thessalonica, 139.\n\nJophiel, 49.\n\n\nL\n\nLandelle, 209.\n\nLast Judgment, Pictures of the, 73, 151, 191-199.\n\nLeonardo, 39, 69, 121.\n\nLily, Symbolism of the, 94.\n\nLippi, Filippino, 246.\n\n  \u201c  Fra Filippo, 88, 99.\n\nLitanies, The Great, 77.\n\nLiturgy of Angels, A, 34.\n\nLoggie of the Vatican, The, 134, 165.\n\nLord of Souls, The, 68, 70, 83, 121.\n\nLorenzo dei Medici, 60.\n\nLouis, St., 78.\n\nLouvre, The, 60, 129, 202, 227.\n\nLucca, Church of St. Romano, 230.\n\nLucifer, 55, 57, 58, 66, 85.\n\nLuini, 208, 214.\n\n\nM\n\nMadonna, Pictures of the, 223.\n\n  \u201c  del Pesce, 125-129.\n\n  \u201c  di Fuligno, 129.\n\n  \u201c  di San Sisto, 27, 127, 129.\n\nMadonna in Glory, The, 242.\n\nMadrid Gallery or Museum, 125, 129, 159.\n\nMantegna, 120, 189.\n\nMarco, Covenant of San, 100.\n\nMaria Maggiore, Church of Santa, 91.\n\nMarziale, Church of St., 125.\n\nMater Amabilis, The, 245.\n\nMaximin, The Emperor, 204.\n\nMedina, Duke of, 128.\n\nMelozzo da Forli, 150.\n\nMengs, Anton Raphael, 177.\n\nMessengers, Angelic, 17.\n\nMichael, St., 48, 156, 199, 213, 241.\n\nMichael Angelo, 39, 199, 231, 232.\n\nMichael, Mount Saint, 78.\n\nMilan, The Brera, 163.\n\n  \u201c  Monasterio Maggiore, 208.\n\nMilton, 20, 27, 104, 105, 119, 131, 132, 140, 259.\n\nMinisters, Angelic, 17.\n\nMonasterio Maggiore, Milan, 208.\n\nMonreale, Cathedral of, 133.\n\nMoretto, 209.\n\nMoses, The Prophet, 75.\n\nMother of Mercy, The, 229.\n\nM\u00fccke, 258.\n\nMurillo, 164, 165, 183, 184, 236-239.\n\nMuseo Tosi, Brescia, 209.\n\n\nN\n\nNaples, Church of San Dominico Maggiore, 128.\n\nNational Gallery, London, 231, 242.\n\nNativity of Christ, Pictures of the, 247.\n\nNineveh, 25, 115.\n\nNoah, 49.\n\n\nO\n\nOrcagna, 23, 192, 198, 199.\n\nOrders of Angels, 15-19.\n\nOrvieto, Cathedral of, 199.\n\nOxford Collection, The, 216.\n\n\nP\n\nPacheco, 235, 240.\n\nPalma, 150.\n\nPassavant, 126.\n\nPaul, Words of St., 74, 263.\n\n  \u201c V., Pope, 235.\n\nPerugino, 28, 149, 178, 180, 216, 242.\n\nPetersburg, St., 160, 191.\n\nPhilip IV., of Spain, 128.\n\nPiet\u00e0, The, 51, 231.\n\nPinturicchio, 247.\n\nPisa, Campo Santo, 192.\n\n  \u201c  Cathedral of, 160.\n\nPitti Gallery, The, 119, 168.\n\nPool of Bethesda, Pictures of, 183-185.\n\nPotter, Paul, 167.\n\nPowers, The, 17, 25.\n\nPrincedoms, Angelic, 18, 25.\n\n\nQ\n\nQueen of Angels, 93, 223, 242.\n\nQueen of Heaven, 93.\n\n\nR\n\nRaphael, 24, 27, 40, 60, 62, 93, 125, 134, 150, 156,\n     164, 165, 168, 169, 178, 179, 216, 242.\n\nRavenna, Mosaics of, 242.\n\nRembrandt, 41, 129, 159, 164, 166, 189, 249, 253.\n\nReni, Guido, 39, 62, 65, 156, 240.\n\nRepose in Egypt, The, 250, 251.\n\nResurrection of Christ, Pictures of, 215.\n\nRichard of Normandy, 78.\n\nRomano, Church of St., 230.\n\nRubens, 66, 163, 167, 178, 249.\n\nRuskin, Mr., 42, 259.\n\n\nS\n\nSala del Incendio, The, 180.\n\nSanta Croce, Church of, Florence, 215, 223.\n\nSanta Maria Novella, Church of, 51, 223.\n\nSanta Maria della Salute, Church of, Venice, 160.\n\nSarto, Andrea del, 110, 159.\n\nScheffer, Ary, 180, 189.\n\nSchoen, Martin, 65.\n\nScuola della Caritas, Venice, 230.\n\nSeraphim, The, 16-19.\n\nSeville, 235.\n\nShakespeare, 155.\n\nSignorelli, 69, 75, 199.\n\nSinai, Mount, 73, 75.\n\nSistine Chapel, The, 75, 199.\n\nSodoma, Il, 160.\n\nSoult, Marshal, 184.\n\nSpenser, 14.\n\nStanza della Signatura, 40.\n\nStirling, Handbook of Spain, 240.\n\nSymbols of Angels, 19.\n\n\nT\n\nTaddeo Gaddi, 51.\n\nTemptation of Christ, Pictures of the, 179-183, 208.\n\nThomas Aquinas, St., 51.\n\nThrones, Angelic, 18.\n\nTintoretto, 178.\n\nTitian, 39, 125, 160, 253, 254.\n\nTobias, 49, 107-127.\n\nTree of Knowledge, 49.\n\n\nU\n\nUffizi Gallery, 248.\n\nUriel, 49, 132.\n\nUrsula, St., 230.\n\n\nV\n\nVan Dyck, 250.\n\nVarallo, Church at, 214.\n\nVatican, The, 24, 40, 164, 165, 180, 216, 231.\n\nVelasquez, 208, 240.\n\nVenice, 125, 160, 230.\n\n  \u201c  Academy of, 228, 254.\n\nVerona, Church of St. Euphemia, 120.\n\nVeronese, Paul, 178, 189, 249.\n\nVerrocchio, 178, 179.\n\nVienna, Belvedere Gallery, 110, 163, 177.\n\nVinci, Leonardo da, 69.\n\nVirtues, Angelic, 17.\n\nVisit of Women to the Sepulchre of Christ, Pictures of the, 190, 191.\n\nVision of Ezekiel, The, 168, 170.\n\nVisitation, Pictures of the, 247.\n\nVivarini, 150, 228.\n\n\nW\n\nWestminster Abbey, 73.\n\nWilliam the Conqueror, 78.\n\nWings, Angel, 19-25.\n\n\nZ\n\nZadkiel, 50.\n\nZoroaster, 13.","title":"Angels in Art","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":27725}