Angels in art
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Angels in art
"Angel song" redirects here. For the song by The Brilliant Green, see Los Angeles (The Brilliant Green album).
Angels have appeared in works of art for millennia. Angel-shaped beings appear in ancient Mesopotamian and Greek art and were probably the inspiration for the popular Christian image of angels.
Angels remained a popular subject for Byzantine and European paintings and sculpture. Angels have also become an integral part of Anime culture, particularly in fan art and webcomics.
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In Christian art
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 without wings. Representations of angels on sarcophagi and on objects such as lamps and reliquaries of that period also show them without wings,[1] as for example the angel in the Sacrifice of Isaac scene in the Sarcophagus of Junius Bassus.
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).[2]
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."[3]
From then on, though of course with some exceptions, Christian art represented angels with wings, as in the cycle of mosaics in the Basilica of Saint Mary Major (432-440).[4] 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, and are usually shown only in heavenly contexts, as opposed to performing tasks on earth. They often appear in the pendentives of domes or semi-domes of churches.
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. The basic military dress it is still worn in pictures into the Baroque period and beyond in the West (see Reni picture above), and up to the present day in Eastern Orthodox icons. Other angels came to be conventionally depicted in long robes, and 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 the Annunciation in Washington by Jan van Eyck.
A few noteworthy examples are:
- The Ecstasy of St Theresa by Gian Lorenzo Bernini
- Annunciations by many artists.
- The Sopo Archangels
- Ángel arcabucero, Latin American angels with guns
Contemporary works of art with angels
Angels in contemporary art and illustration
Anime and manga
- Air
- Angel Sanctuary
- Angel Wars
- Bludgeoning Angel Dokuro-Chan
- Chrono Crusade
- D.N.Angel
- Haibane Renmei
- Megatokyo
- Neon Genesis Evangelion
- Oh My Goddess!
- On Your Mark
- Pitaten
- Sailor Moon
- Tenshi ni Narumon
- The Vision of Escaflowne
- X/1999
Art
- Angel of the North
- Based on a vision he experienced, British artist Donald Pass mostly paints angels.
Books
- Good Omens
- His Dark Materials
- Shadowmancer
- The Vintner's Luck
- The Mysterious Stranger
Comic books
Games
Collectible card games
- Aniołowie - Fantastyczna Gra Karciana
- Heresy: Kingdom Come
- Magic: The Gathering
Video and computer games
Movies
- Almost an Angel
- Always (remake of A Guy Named Joe)
- Angels in the Outfield (1951 original)
- Angels in the Outfield (1994 remake)
- Angels in the Endzone
- Angels in the Infield
- Angel on My Shoulder
- The Angel Who Pawned Her Harp
- Aniol w Krakowie
- Barbarella
- The Bishop's Wife
- City of Angels (an American remake of Wings of Desire)
- Clarence
- Constantine
- Date with an Angel (a reworking of I Married an Angel)
- Dogma
- Down to Earth (1947 sequel to Here Comes Mr. Jordan)
- Down to Earth (2001 remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan),
- Faraway, So Close! (a sequel to Wings of Desire)
- Forever, Darling
- Gabriel
- A Guy Named Joe
- Heaven Can Wait (remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan)
- Heaven's Touch (remake of Here Comes Mr. Jordan)
- The Heavenly Kid
- Here Comes Mr. Jordan
- Legion
- The Horn Blows at Midnight
- I Married an Angel
- It's a Wonderful Life
- Michael
- Mr. Destiny
- One Magic Christmas
- The Preacher's Wife (a remake of The Bishop's Wife)
- The Prophecy
- Two of a Kind
- Wings of Desire
Plays
- Angels in America (later remade as an HBO mini-series)
Classical music
- Jeptha
- St Francis of Assisi
- Don Carlos
- Angels in America (opera version)
- Black Angels (George Crumb)
- Angel of Light (Symphony No. 7) (Einojuhani Rautavaara)
- Angels and Visitations (Einojuhani Rautavaara)
Popular music
- Canticle of the Plains, musical called a retelling of the life of St. Francis
- "Beauty School Dropout" - sung by an angel - From the soundtrack of the 1978 film Grease, performed by Frankie Avalon
- "Number One Song In Heaven" - from the 1979 album No. 1 In Heaven by the American pop band Sparks
TV series
- Doctor Who episode Blink (Doctor Who)
A Weeping Angel as seen in The Time of Angels
- Fallen (ABC Family Miniseries)
- Highway to Heaven
- Neverwhere
- Supernatural (TV series)
- Touched by an Angel
- The Simpsons episode Lisa the Skeptic
See also
Gallery
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The Virgin With Angels, William-Adolphe Bouguereau
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Abraham and the three angels by Gustave Doré
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Madonna Surrounded by Seraphim and Cherubim by Jean Fouquet
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Jacob wrestling with the Angel, by Gustave Doré
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God surrounded by Seraphim (Petites Heures of Jean de France, Duc de Berry)
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St Michaels Victory over the Devil, a sculpture by Sir Jacob Epstein
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Lamentation by Giotto di Bondone
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Annunciation by Leonardo Da Vinci
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Rosa Celeste: by Gustave Doré
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by Jan Matejko
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Church of Saint Demetrius Patron Saint of Thessaloniki
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Notes
- ^ Proverbio(2007), pp. 81-89; cf. review in La Civiltà Cattolica, 3795-3796 (2–16 August 2008), pp. 327-328.
- ^ Proverbio(2007) p. 66
- ^ Proverbio(2007) p. 34
- ^ Proverbio(2007), pp. 90-95; cf. review in La Civiltà Cattolica, 3795-3796 (2–16 August 2008), pp. 327-328.
References
- Proverbio, Cecilia (2007). La figura dell'angelo nella civiltà paleocristiana. Assisi, Italy: Editrice Tau. ISBN 88-87472-69-6.
External links
- Saints and Angels Collection -- Original Paintings, Prints and Sculptures by James Christensen
- Black and White Angel Photography
- Angels today - collection of angels pictures, information about archangels
- Donald Pass - contemporary art on angels
- Angel Art Gallery - Free Large Slideshow
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