Editing Angels in art (section)

==Christian art==
[[File:Annunciation_on_the_triumphal_arch_of_santa_maria_maggiore_in_rome.png|thumb|Winged angels in [[toga]]s, [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]], Rome (432–440)]]

===In the early Church===
Specific ideas regarding how to portray angels began to develop in the early Church. Since angels are defined as pure spirits,<ref name=gorgievski>[https://books.google.com/books?id=fYareuHCAu0C&pg=PA1 Gorgievski, Sandra. ''Face to Face with Angels: Images in Medieval Art and in Film''], McFarland (2010) {{ISBN|9780786457564}}</ref><ref name=longhurst>[https://archive.today/20131227212425/http://www.academia.edu/1908542/The_Science_of_Angelology_in_the_Modern_World_-_The_Revival_of_Angels_in_Contemporary_Culture Longhurst S.T.D., Christopher Evan. "The Science of Angelology in the Modern World: The Revival of Angels in Contemporary Culture", ''The Catholic Response''], Volume IX, No. 2, September/October 2012 (pp. 32–36) {{ISSN|1553-0221}}</ref> the lack of a defined form has allowed artists wide latitude for creativity.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://news.sky.com/story/1185507/angels-exist-but-have-no-wings-says-church| title = 'Angels Exist But Have No Wings, Says Church', ''Skye News'', 20 December 2013}}</ref> Daniel 8:15 describes [[Gabriel]] as appearing in the "likeness of man" and in Daniel 9:21 he is referred to as "the man Gabriel." Such anthropomorphic descriptions of an angel are consistent with previous descriptions of angels, as in Genesis 19:5.<ref name=everson>[http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/gabriel357902.shtml Everson, David. "Gabriel Blow Your Horn! – A Short History of Gabriel within Jewish Literature", Xavier University, December 2009] {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140428164859/http://www.bibleinterp.com/articles/gabriel357902.shtml |date=28 April 2014 }}</ref> They were usually depicted in the form of young men.<ref name=marshall>[https://books.google.com/books?id=UvZNzngArGQC&pg=PA1 Marshall, Peter and Walsham, Alexandra (editors). ''Angels in the Early Modern World''], p. 5, Cambridge University Press (2006), {{ISBN|9780521843324}}</ref>

The earliest known Christian image of an angel, in the ''Cubicolo dell'Annunziazione'' in the [[Catacomb of Priscilla]], which is dated to the middle of the third century, is a depiction of the Annunciation in which Gabriel is portrayed without wings. Representations of angels on [[sarcophagi]] and on objects such as lamps and [[reliquaries]] of that period also show them without wings,<ref>Proverbio(2007), pp. 81–89; cf. review in ''[[La Civiltà Cattolica]]'', 3795–3796 (2–16 August 2008), pp. 327–328.</ref> as for example the angel in the ''[[Sacrifice of Isaac]]'' scene in the [[Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus]].

In a third-century fresco of the Hebrew children in the furnace, in the cemetery of St. Priscilla, a dove takes the place of the angel, while a fourth-century representation of the same subject, in the coemeterium maius, substitutes the [[Hand of God (art)|Hand of God]] for the heavenly messenger.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.newadvent.org/cathen/01485a.htm| title = Hassett, Maurice. 'Early Christian Representations of Angels.' The Catholic Encyclopedia. Vol. 1. New York: Robert Appleton Company, 1907. 25 Dec. 2013}}</ref>

The earliest known representation of angels with wings is on what is called the Prince's Sarcophagus, discovered at Sarigüzel, near [[Istanbul]], in the 1930s, and attributed to the time of [[Theodosius I]] (379–395).<ref>Proverbio(2007) p. 66</ref> Flying winged angels, very often in pairs flanking a central figure or subject, are derivations in visual terms from pairs of [[Victoria (mythology)|winged Victories]] in classical art.<ref name=marshall/>

In this same period, Saint [[John Chrysostom]] explained the significance of angels' wings: "They manifest a nature's sublimity. That is why Gabriel is represented with wings. Not that angels have wings, but that you may know that they leave the heights and the most elevated dwelling to approach human nature. Accordingly, the wings attributed to these powers have no other meaning than to indicate the sublimity of their nature."<ref>Proverbio (2007) p. 34</ref>

From then on Christian art generally represented angels with wings, as in the cycle of mosaics in the [[Basilica di Santa Maria Maggiore]] (432–440).<ref>Proverbio (2007), pp. 90–95; cf. review in ''[[La Civiltà Cattolica]]'', 3795–3796 (2–16 August 2008), pp. 327–328.</ref> Multi-winged angels, often with only their face and wings showing, drawn from the higher grades of angels, especially [[cherubim]] and [[seraphim]], are derived from Persian art,{{citation needed|date=April 2020}} and are usually shown only in heavenly contexts, as opposed to performing tasks on Earth. They often appear in the [[pendentive]]s of [[dome]]s or [[semi-dome]]s of churches.

===Byzantine art===
[[File:Erzengel Michael und Gabriel.jpg|thumb|upright|12th-century [[icon]] of the Archangels [[Michael (angel)|Michael]] and [[Gabriel]] wearing the ''[[loros]]'' of the Imperial guards.]]
Angels appear in Byzantine art in mosaics and icons. Artists found some of their inspiration from winged Greek figures such as "Victory". They also drew from imperial iconography. Court eunuchs could rise to positions of authority in the Empire. They performed ceremonial functions and served as trusted messengers. Amelia R. Brown points out that legislation under Justinian indicates that many of them came from the Caucasus, having light eyes, hair, and skin, as well as the "comely features and fine bodies" desired by slave traders.<ref name=brown/> Those "castrated in childhood developed a distinctive skeletal structure, lacked full masculine musculature, body hair and beards,...." As officials, they would wear a white tunic decorated with gold. Brown suggests that  "Byzantine artists drew, consciously or not, on this iconography of the court eunuch".<ref name=brown>{{cite web| url = https://www.academia.edu/1053017| title = Brown, Amelia R., 'Painting the Bodiless: Angels and Eunuchs in Byzantine Art and Culture', University of Queensland (2007)| access-date = 2 November 2017| archive-date = 12 November 2017| archive-url = https://web.archive.org/web/20171112141404/http://www.academia.edu/1053017/Painting_the_Bodiless_Angels_and_Eunuchs_in_Byzantine_Art_and_Culture| url-status = dead}}</ref>

Daniel 10: 5–6 describes an angel as clothed in linen and girt with gold.<ref name=longhurst/> Angels, especially the archangel Michael, who were depicted as military-style agents of God, came to be shown wearing [[Late Antique]] military uniform. This could be either the normal military dress, with a tunic to about the knees, armour breastplate and [[pteruges]], but also often the specific dress of the bodyguard of the [[Byzantine Emperor]], with a long tunic and the ''[[loros]]'', a long gold and jewelled [[pallium]] restricted to the Imperial family and their closest guards, and in icons to archangels. The basic military dress it is still worn in pictures into the [[Baroque]] period and beyond in the West, and up to the present day in [[Eastern Orthodox]] [[icon]]s. Other angels came to be conventionally depicted in long robes.

===Medieval art===
Medieval depictions of angels borrow from the Byzantine. In the French ''Hours of Anne of Brittany'', Gabriel wears a dalmatic.<ref>[https://books.google.com/books?id=9QQFAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA54 Andre, J. Lewis. "The Icons and Emblems of the Holy Angels", ''The Belfry: Quarterly Papers on Art, History and Archaeology'', No. III, Burns & Oates, London, October 1876],</ref> In the later Middle Ages they often wear the vestments of a [[deacon]], a [[cope]] over a [[dalmatic]], especially [[Gabriel]] in [[Annunciation]] scenes – for example ''[[Annunciation (van Eyck, Washington)|The Annunciation]]'' by [[Jan van Eyck]]. This indicated that, for all their powers, they could not perform the [[Eucharist]], and were in this respect outranked by every priest, reinforcing the prestige of the clergy.  In [[Early Christian art]] white robes were almost invariably adopted, sometimes bound with the "golden girdle" of Revelation. During the mediæval period senior angels were often clad in every brilliant colour,<ref name=vinycomb>{{cite web| url = http://www.sacred-texts.com/lcr/fsca/fsca08.htm| title = Vinycomb, John. ''Fictitious and Symbolic Creatures in Art'', p. 30, Chapman and Hall, London(1909)}}</ref> while junior ranks wore white. Early Renaissance painters such as [[Jan van Eyck]] and [[Fra Angelico]] painted angels with multi-colored wings.  Depictions of angels came to combine medieval notions of beauty with feminine ideals of grace and beauty, as in da Panicale's 1435 ''Baptism of Christ''.<ref name=gorgievski/>

===Renaissance art===
[[File:ANGELICO, Fra Annunciation, 1437-46 (2236990916).jpg|thumb|left|Fra Angelico, ''[[Annunciation (Fra Angelico, San Marco)|The Annunciation]]'', 1437–1446]]
The classical ''[[erotes]]'' or ''[[putto]]'' re-appeared in art during the [[Italian Renaissance]] in both religious and mythological art, and is often known in English as a [[cherub]], the singular of cherubim, actually one of the higher ranks in the [[Christian angelic hierarchy]].  They normally appear in groups and are generally given wings in religious art, and are sometimes represented as just a winged head.  They generally are just in attendance, except that they may be amusing Christ or [[John the Baptist]] as infants in scenes of the [[Holy Family]].

The classic example of Renaissance art showing Erotes is the depiction of [[Eros]] and [[Cupid]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=themes |first=wiseowl |date=2019-09-18 |title=Eros' Iconography in Classical Times: Amor Vincit Omnia |url=https://www.ancient-art.co.uk/eros-iconography-in-classical-times-amor-vincit-omnia/ |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=St James Ancient Art}}</ref> In the Greek mythology, Eros and his Roman counterpart Cupid, are winged and have arrows they use to manipulate people to fall in love.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Eros: More Than Just Cupid – My Class: Gods and Heroes of Classical Mythology – HSA020C132H 2017-18 |url=https://eportfolios.roehampton.ac.uk/hsa020c132h/2018/06/30/eros-more-than-just-cupid/ |access-date=2024-04-16 |website=eportfolios.roehampton.ac.uk}}</ref>

===Victorian art===
In the late 19th century artists' model [[Jane Morris|Jane Burden Morris]] came to embody an ideal of beauty for [[Pre-Raphaelite]] painters. With the use of her long dark hair and features made somewhat more androgynous, they created a prototype Victorian angel which would appear in paintings and stained glass windows. Roger Homan notes that [[Edward Burne-Jones]] and others used her image often and in different ways, creating a new type of angel.<ref>{{cite web| url = http://www.socialaffairsunit.org.uk/blog/archives/000614.php| title = Homan, Roger. "Jane Burden: How a Pre-Raphaelite model changed our image of angels", ''The Social Affairs Unit'', 14 October 2005}}</ref>

===Modern art===
Angels continued to be depicted in the 20th century. One example is the large mosaic mural ''Angels of the Heavenly Host'' in [[St Paul's, Bow Common]], created during 1963–68 by [[Charles Lutyens]].<ref name="artandchristianity">{{cite web| url=https://artandchristianity.org/ecclesiart-listings/charles-lutyens-angels-of-the-heavenly-host | title=Charles Lutyens: Angels of the Heavenly Host | website=Art+Christianity | access-date=3 September 2024 }}</ref>