PICTURES WHICH ILLUSTRATE BOTH SCRIPTURE AND LEGEND.
In whatever light one may regard the sacred legends of the early Church,
it is not possible to understand the representations of angels in Art
without some knowledge of these ancient traditions. One who knows
nothing of them, finds himself strangely puzzled and disconcerted,
before the almost numberless legendary subjects which he sees in
churches and galleries.
For example, if one knows nothing of the legend of St. Catherine of
Alexandria, how can he explain the picture of her mystic marriage to the
Infant Jesus, which typifies her renunciation of all earthly things,
and her complete dedication of herself to the service of Christ and his
Church?
St. Catherine is habitually represented with a wheel beside her. When
the wheel is whole, it is a symbol of the torture with which she was
threatened by the Emperor Maximin; when broken, it is a token of the
miracle by which she was saved from a horrible death.
During the many years that have passed since my first visit to the
gallery of the Louvre, I have retained a vivid remembrance of my
discontent before the beautiful picture of St. Margaret. The pleasure
that I should have taken in the lovely face and exquisite figure of the
saint, in the graceful drapery, and other details of this celebrated
picture, was utterly lost through my ignorance. I did not know why she
was standing on the frightful
[Illustration: LORENZO DI CREDI.--AN ANGEL IN ADORATION.]
dragon, with his horrible mouth wide open, and his terrible claw raised
as if to clutch the beautiful maiden.
As a consequence of this experience, I resolved to study the religious
symbolism of the early Christian Church, as I had already studied that
of the religion of the classic ages. How frequently now, as then, I meet
those who perfectly understand the significance of the head of Medusa,
or the lyre of Orpheus, who have no conception of the reason for the
representation of a church in the hand of St. Jerome, or of the serpent
in the chalice of St. John the Evangelist.
There are numerous pictures, in which angels are introduced, that are
founded on the Scripture story, but do not follow it strictly. Many
subjects are so suggestive of the presence of angels, that there is a
legitimate artistic license for introducing them into these scenes.
For example, the Scripture account of the ministration of angels to
Jesus, after the Temptation and after the Agony in the Garden, naturally
suggests their presence on other occasions of his suffering, and renders
their introduction quite permissible.
Thus, in the picture of Christ after the Flagellation, in the Monasterio
Maggiore in Milan, by Luini, which is full of the wonderful tenderness
of that master, there is no angel; while Velasquez, in his picture of
the same subject, which is in a private collection in England,
introduces such a presence.
So in the story of the Ecce Homo no angel is mentioned, and the usual
devotional picture represents the half figure of Christ, or the head
alone, wearing the crown of thorns. The historical picture portrays the
scene before Pilate, with a number of figures. Some artists, however,
have presented this subject differently, as in the picture by Moretto,
in the Museo Tosi in Brescia.
This shows the Saviour seated upon the steps of a building, probably
that in which was the “common hall,” in which the soldiers crowned him.
He still holds the reed sceptre, though his hands are bound; the cross
is on the ground before him, and his head is bowed upon his breast. On
the steps behind him, and a little above, stands a weeping angel,
holding the garment of Christ as if about to wrap it around him. The
expression in the convulsed face of the angel is remarkable. It is as if
he endeavored to restrain his tears, but could not. A much later picture
by Landelle, called the Angel of Tears, is similar to that of Moretto in
sentiment; in it a weeping angel kneels before a crown of thorns, his
tears falling over his cheeks.
Angels are also represented in pictures of the Crucifixion; in fact,
they were never absent in the earliest pictures of this subject,
although they were but few in number, and were extremely realistic in
their treatment, being precisely like ordinary men with wings added to
their shoulders. Later their number was largely increased, and they
became less human and extremely passionate in the expression of their
sorrow in beholding the agony of Jesus. Giotto and Cavallini introduce
an element of absurdity into this momentous scene, by representing
extremely human little angels as tearing open their plump little breasts
in their despair.
This extreme realism was sometimes carried to the extent of picturing
angels with chalices, catching the blood which flowed from the hands and
side of Jesus. In accordance with true symbolism, a female figure,
impersonating the Church, should hold the chalice to the side alone.
[Illustration: From a Copley Print, copyright, 1897, by Curtis and
Cameron.
FRENCH.--DEATH STAYING THE HAND OF THE SCULPTOR.]
Duccio da Siena, a generation earlier than Giotto, displayed a more
subtle perception, and grouped a numerous company of angels in a half
circle above the cross, in his famous picture of the Crucifixion, which
is one of the treasures of his native city. Two of them kiss the dead
hands; others cover their faces; some have thrown themselves down prone
upon the clouds; while still others, as if mindful of their duties as
messengers, are flying upwards to bear the news to the courts above.
In a few Crucifixions, in which the three crosses appear, angels are
receiving the soul of the penitent thief, while demons quarrel over that
of the unrepentant criminal. Unpleasant as this treatment is, it is the
logical result of the belief that a good or bad angel attended every
death, and bore the soul to St. Michael for judgment, as is depicted in
many ancient works of art. The spirits of the blessed are tenderly
carried skyward, but the translation of lost souls is attended with some
revolting details.
Gradually fewer angels were represented at the Crucifixion, and an
apparently unwritten law limited them to two or three with chalices;
indeed, for a time this scene was far less frequently pictured.
Luini and Gaudenzio Ferrari, Lombard painters of the fifteenth century,
again portrayed so many angels, and such numberless little winged heads,
that the upper portions of their Crucifixions were alive with them.
These artists, with their refined tenderness of manner, created angels
that have rarely, if ever, been excelled in what may be termed a genuine
angelic quality. Especially is this true of Gaudenzio; the lamenting
angels above his Crucifixion, in the church at Varallo, are among the
most satisfactory representations of angels that occur in any picture
of this scene.
If the Resurrection of Christ is to be represented, the angel is
appropriately present; but as no account of the scene is given in the
Bible, and no one witnessed it, each artist who portrayed it was at
liberty to give his imagination full play in his work. For a long time
there were no pictures of this subject, its treatment being confined to
carvings in ivory, on shrines and other small objects. The greater
number of artists apparently esteemed it as too sacred, as well as too
tremendous, a subject to be adequately conceived and satisfactorily
presented.
So far as I can learn, the Resurrection was first painted by Giotto, as
one of a series of small pictures upon a press for the sacred vessels in
the Church of Santa Croce in Florence; it is now in the Academy of that
city. In this picture there is no angel. Fra Angelico represents the
Maries talking with the angel, while Christ is suspended in air above
them. By degrees the designs for this subject were modified, until, in
the picture in the Vatican which has been attributed to Perugino, the
rising Christ, bearing the banner of victory, is worshipped by two
angels. This work is now believed to be by Raphael, as his authenticated
studies for it are in the Oxford Collection.
Perhaps it is to be regretted that the illustration of this supremely
mystical subject was ever attempted in Art. I cannot imagine that any
existing picture of it should be seriously approved as a whole, although
certain figures or details may be sincerely admired.
The Ascension of Christ is another mystical subject, which was long
unattempted in a realistic portrayal of the scene as described in the
New Testament. Ancient ivories show Jesus as grasping the hand of God
extended to him through the clouds, and being thus drawn up from earth.
In the twelfth and thirteenth centuries the Scripture expression, “he
was taken up,” was given a literal meaning, and the figure of Jesus was
represented in the mandorla,--the oblong glory in which Christ, the
Virgin, or saints are represented when ascending to heaven,--which was
borne by angels to a certain height, when a cloud received him out of
sight.
As with the Resurrection so with the Ascension, Giotto was bold enough
to attempt representing the scene in accordance with the scriptural
description, and painted his idea of it on the walls of the Arena
Chapel, in Padua. In the centre of the lower part of the picture are two
angels, who, with raised hands, direct the attention of the kneeling
Virgin, and groups of Apostles, also kneeling, to Christ, already
soaring far above them, accompanied by numerous worshipping angels, who
are on both sides, at some distance apart from him.
This fresco is much injured, but is highly valued for the sublimity of
its composition. No angel aids Christ to rise. He is apparently able to
fulfil his own words, “And I, if I be lifted up from the earth, will
draw all men unto me.”
Many pictures of the Ascension are seen in galleries, and it became a
favorite subject for the decoration of church vaults and cupolas,
especially in Greek churches. Correggio’s Ascension, in the Church of
San Giovanni, in Parma, is famous wherever Christian art is studied.
This master depicted numberless little angels flying here and there,
riding on clouds or mischievously peeping from behind them, chasing
each other as in some boisterous game, and by their levity and
frolicsomeness destroying all seriousness of effect, in spite of the
solemnity of the Evangelists and Reverend Fathers in the angles of the
vault below.
This picture must not, however, be taken as irreverent. Evidently
Correggio wished to convey the idea that the Ascension of Christ was an
occasion of joy to the angels, to whom his earthly pilgrimage and
sufferings had given a certain seriousness,--not sorrow, because angels
are happy, and not subject to human wants and weakness.
Now the great work was accomplished, and even the angels were rejoicing
that the Son should again resume his place at the right hand of the
Father, until the time when he should come again with glorious majesty
to judge both the quick and the dead.
One readily perceives how rich a field for the artistic imagination
these mystical subjects presented. But in a comprehensive study of them,
it is curious to note the effect upon works of Art of the dogmas of the
theologians, as they were promulgated from time to time. In some cases,
especially in Spain, rules were prescribed for the manner in which
religious subjects should be represented, and no artist dared depart
from them.
In the representations of angels, however, there was a larger liberty
than in the doctrinal subjects of religious art, and to this we owe the
possession of many precious works of sculptors and painters, which are
never outgrown, and of which we never weary.
[Illustration: ROSSETTI.--THE ANNUNCIATION.]