"_On cherubim and seraphim
Full royally he rode._"
STEENHOLD.
"_What, always dreaming over heavenly things,
Like_ angel heads _in stone wish pigeon wings_."
COWPER, "Conversation."
In heraldry A CHERUB (plural Cherubim) is always represented as the head
of an infant between a pair of wings, usually termed a "cherub's head."
[Illustration: Cherubs' Heads.]
[Illustration: A Seraph's Head.]
A SERAPH (plural Seraphim), in like manner, is always depicted as the head
of a child, but with three pairs of wings; the two uppermost and the two
lowermost are contrarily crossed, or in saltire; the two middlemost are
displayed.
_Clavering_, of Callaby Castle, Northumberland, bears for crest a cherub's
head with wings erect. Motto: CŒLOS VOLENS.
On funereal achievements, setting forth the rank and circumstance of the
deceased, it is usual to place over the lozenge-shaped shield containing
arms of a woman, whether spinster, wife, or widow, a cherub's head, and
knots or bows of ribbon in place of crests, helmets, or its mantlings,
which, according to heraldic law, cannot be borne by any woman, sovereign
princesses only excepted.
[Illustration: Arms--Azure a chevron argent between three cherubs' heads
of the last.]
In representing the cherubim by infants' winged heads, the early painters
meant them to be emblematic of a pure spirit glowing with love and
intelligence, the head the seat of the soul, and the wings attribute of
swiftness and spirit alone retained.
The body or limbs of the cherub and seraph are never shown in heraldry,
for what reason it is difficult to say, unless it be from the ambiguity of
the descriptions in the sacred writings and consequent difficulty of
representing them. The heralds adopted the figure of speech termed
synecdoche, which adopts a part to represent the whole.
Sir Joshua Reynolds has embodied the modern conception in his exquisite
painting of cherubs' heads, _Portrait Studies of Frances Isabella Ker,
daughter of Lord William Gordon_, now in the National Collection. It
represents five infants' heads with wings, in different positions,
floating among clouds. This idea of the cherub seems to have found ready
acceptance with poets and painters. Shakespeare sings:
"Look how the floor of heaven
Is thick inlaid with patines of bright gold:
There's not the smallest orb which thou beholdest
But in his motion like an angel sings,
Still quiring to the young-eyed cherubim--
Such harmony is in immortal souls:
But while this muddy vesture of decay
Doth grossly close it in, we cannot hear it."
Many of the painters of the period of the Renaissance represented the
cherub similarly to those in Reynolds' picture. They were also in the
habit of introducing into their pictures of sacred subjects nude youthful
winged figures, "celestial loves," sporting in clouds around the principal
figure or figures, or assisting in some act that is being done. Thus
Spenser invests "The Queen of Beauty and of Love the Mother" with a troop
of these little loves, "Cupid, their elder brother."
"And all about her neck and shoulders flew
A flock of little loves, and sports and joys
With nimble wings of gold and purple hue;
Whose shapes seemed not like to terrestrial boys,
But like to angels playing heavenly toys."
_Faerie Queen_, Book x. cant. x. p. 153.
These must not, however, be confounded with the cherub and seraph of
Scripture. It was a thoroughly pagan idea, borrowed from classic
mythology, and unworthy of Christian Art. It soon degenerated into
"earthly loves" and "cupids," or amorini as they were termed and as we now
understand them.
[Illustration]