PICTURES OF ANGELS AS AUTHORIZED
BY THE SCRIPTURES.

IL SODOMA. THE SACRIFICE OF ABRAHAM.

painted, while the more disagreeable expulsion
of Hagar from the home of her
youth has been frequently represented;
the picture of this scene by Guercino,
in the Brera at Milan, is famous, and
certainly tells the story of " Cast out the
bondwoman and her son" with directness;
but there is an element of vulgarity
in it that so detracts from its
good qualities as to make one wonder
that it could have been so much admired.

A far more tender subject is that which
pictures Hagar in the wilderness alone,
and repentant of her fault, for which
Sarah had chastened her; it is at this
moment that the angel appears and commands
her return to Abraham. A fine
example of this rare subject by Pietro
da Cortona is in the Belvedere, at Vienna.
Rubens also painted this scene.

A picture that is even more pathetic
represents Hagar and Ishmael in the
wilderness of Beersheba. Ishmael is
fainting from thirst, and Hagar flings
herself to the ground with the prayer,
"Let me not see the death of the child,"
when an angel appears to comfort her,
and guide her to a hidden spring. The
pathos of this scene must appeal to every
mother, and a picture of it by Rembrandt
is so fine that one can but regret that it
is not in a public collection.

The visit of the three angels to Abraham
is also a rare subject in Art. I have
already referred to that painted by Raphael,
in the Vatican. Murillo also represented
it in a picture now in a private
gallery in England. In neither of these
pictures have the angels wings.

The three beautiful figures by Raphael,
however, are not like any men whom we
have seen ; they impress one as beings of
another and a far higher sphere than
ours. Murillo, on the contrary, shows
us three ordinary travellers, and but for
the title of the picture, we should not
suspect that these men were celestial
visitors. A large picture of this subject
by Rembrandt is one of the treasures
of the Hermitage.

Jacob's dream, with the ascending and
descending angels, is an exquisite motive
for illustration, and has been variously
pictured. A single angel sometimes
watches the sleeper, as if to inspire his
dream and bring him a blessing; again,
there are many angels, and again, but a
small number, who move here and there,
up and down, imparting a remarkable
effect of airy, graceful motion. The
ladder, too, is widely varied, being repre-
sented by one or several flights of steps,
ascending to the clouds.

In the sixth arcade of the Vatican loggie
is Raphael's third and best representa-
tion of this dream. Here Jacob's face is
turned towards the ladder, on which are
six angels; Jehovah appears above with
outstretched arms, and surrounded by a
glory. It is not one of the best of Raphael's
works, and, indeed, all representations
of Jacob's dream that I have seen,
are, to my mind, insufficient when compared
with that of Rembrandt, in the
Dulwich gallery. This is a poem as
essentially as it is a picture. A stream
of dazzling light forms the ladder, up
and down which float mystic, radiant
angels. The whole impression is so like
a dream, so intangible, and yet so apparent,
that one wonders how Rembrandt,
who so often dwelt upon the all too solid elements
of his motives, here caught the innermost
spirit of this most spiritual subject.

" The Comforting of Elijah" is a sub-
ject with rare possibilities, but has been
seldom represented.

Rubens painted a picture of this scene
as symbolical of the Lord's Supper, the
angel presenting to Elijah the bread and
a chalice. Following a custom of some
landscape painters who introduced a subject
mythological, historical, or Scriptural
into their pictures, Paul Potter
represented the "Comforting of Elijah"
in the foreground of one of his pictures.
It also occurs in some ancient illuminated
Bibles.

William Blake's illustration of the text
in Job, "When the morning stars sang
together, and all the sons of God shouted
for joy," is famous for the unusual character
of the angels. Like many pictures
by this poet, who was esteemed as half
mad, it has an element of other worldliness
which is rarely seen in works of his
era. Of this especial picture Mrs.
Jameson wrote: "His adoring angels
float rather than fly, and, with their half
liquid draperies, seem about to dissolve
into light and love; and his rejoicing
angels behold them sending up their
voices with the morning stars, that, singing,
in their glory, move."

The Vision of Ezekiel, in the Pitti Gallery,
in Florence, is, so far as I know, a
unique representation of this subject.
Raphael painted it for Count Ercolani in
Bologna. It is mentioned as early as
1589, in the Inventory of the Tribune,
and has been engraved and copied many
times.

Jehovah is represented seated in a
glory of cherubim's heads, which are
almost unnoticeable by reason of the
exceeding brightness illustrative of the
text, " And I saw as the color of amber,
as the appearance of fire round about
within it, from the appearance of his loins
even upward, and from the appearance
of his loins even downward. I saw as it
were the appearance of fire, and it had
brightness round about" In accordance
with this text also, Jehovah is nude in
the upper portion of the figure, the lower
portion being draped in purple. Near
the Jehovah are the four animals symbolic
of the evangelists, the cherub, the lion,
the ox, and the eagle, not earthly creations,
but mysterious and spiritual as they
float along bearing the Messiah, while
two small angels are near with outstretched
arms.

The sky effects of this wonderful picture
are fine ; the gray clouds are rolling
away, as if for the purpose of disclosing
the vision. This picture has been criticised
on account of the nude figure of
Jehovah; it has been said to be a more
proper representation of Jupiter than of
the Almighty, but Raphael is justified
by the text itself.

Perhaps no representation exists which
more acceptably renders the symbolic nature
of the Four Beasts than does this.
The exact imitation of nature, which ap-
peared later In works of Art, is entirely
opposed to the true meaning of these em-
blems, which was sacred and mystical.
The cherub typifies St. Matthew, because
his Gospel sets forth the human nature of
Christ more forcibly than the divine. The
lion was appropriate to St. Mark, because
he first speaks of " the voice of one crying
in the wilderness," typical of the lion.
The ox belongs to St. Luke, since he
dwells on the priesthood of Christ, the
ox symbolizing sacrifice ; the eagle to St.
John, as the emblem of his inspiration,
by which he wrote so sublimely of the
divinity of Jesus.

There are several other explanations of
these symbols which are so often seen in
works of Art But in this especial picture
of the " Vision of Ezekiel," it would seem
as if the throne of the Son of Man is com-
posed of these mystic beasts, while the
angels are attending him, and gaze into
his face, as if watching for some service
to be rendered.

When the Four Beasts are so pictured
as to recall those who were full of eyes
within, and rest not day and night, saying,
"Holy, holy, holy, Lord God Almighty"
(Revelation iv., 7), they fulfil
the intention of the symbol of the early
Church, as it was understood by those to
whom it was sacred. But when, in the
hands of an irreligious and realistic artist,
they become " as the beasts of the field,"
his work is but a travesty upon the mys-
terious religious symbols, which he thus
debases.

The New Testament gives us a clearer
idea of the nature and offices of angels
than we obtain from the Hebrew Scrip-
tures. We learn of their great numbers
from the words of Jesus," Thinkest thou
that I cannot now pray to my Father,
and he shall presently give me more than
twelve legions of angels ?"(Matthew xxvi.,
53), and from Paul, when he speaks of the
 innumerable company of angels." In
the Gospels of St. Matthew and St. Luke
we learn that they are superior to human
affections, and not subject to change.
"For in the resurrection they neither
marry, nor are given in marriage, but
are as the angels of God" (Matthew
xxii, 30). "Neither can they die any
more; for they are equal unto the angels'*
(Luke xx., 36). By the words of
Jesus, however, we are assured of the
sympathy of angels in all that concerns
our spiritual good. In Luke xv., 10,
Jesus says, "Likewise I say unto you,
there is joy in the presence of the angels
of God over one sinner that repenteth."
The belief that angels bear the souls of

MELOZZO DA FORLI, AN ANGEL

the redeemed to heaven, rests largely on
the declaration by St Luke that "the
beggar died, and was carried by the angels
into Abraham's bosom ;" and in Hebrews
i., 14, St. Paul teaches that they are "sent
forth to minister for them who shall be
heirs of salvation."

In the annunciations of the birth of
John the Baptist and of Jesus, the angels
were the messengers of God, as they so
frequently were when they appeared in
the Old Testament.

That angels are attendant on Christ is
taught in the declaration of St Matthew
that " the Son of man shall come in the
glory of his Father with his angels."
And again, "When the Son of man
shall come in his glory, and all the holy
angels with him."

That angels are deputed to perform
such acts as make for the accomplish-
ment of Christ's mission is shown in
Acts v., 19, when an angel liberated the
Apostles from prison, and commanded
them to "speak in the temple to the
people all the words of life."

When writing to the Romans, St. Paul
speaks of angels, principalities, and pow-
ers, thus enumerating the different orders
of angels, and declares their inability to
separate us from the love of God, thus
implying that they can do nothing that
does not accord with the will of the
Almighty, that they have no power in
themselves. Again, in writing to the
Colossians, St. Paul speaks of things
"visible and invisible," and enumerates
thrones, dominions, principalities, and
powers, while to the Ephesians he declares
that God has placed Christ above
all these orders of celestial beings.

After the annunciations to Zacharias
and the Virgin Mary, an angel next ap-
pears, in the New Testament story, to
instruct Joseph concerning the miracu-
lous conception of Jesus. The appearance
to the shepherds follows, of which
I have spoken in connection with the
subject of angelic choirs.

Again, Joseph was warned by an angel
to flee into Egypt with Mary and the
young Child, to escape the anger of
Herod. In ancient series of pictures
illustrating the life of St. Joseph, this
scene was curiously portrayed, and but
one modern painter, so far as I know,
has been moved to represent it In the
Belvedere, in Vienna, there is an admirable
Dream of Joseph, by Anton Raphael
Mengs.

Pictures of St. John the Baptist in the
wilderness are variously treated, and
when he is represented as very young,
he is attended by ministering angels.
This treatment is warranted by the leg-
end which teaches that he was a mere
child of seven or eight years, and is sup-
ported by the word of St. Luke in the
last verse of the first chapter of his
Gospel," And the child grew, and waxed
strong in spirit, and was in the deserts
till the day of his shewing unto Israel."

The pictures of the Baptism of Christ
are numerous, and the number of attendant
angels is varied from two to four, as
a rule, although there are examples with
even a larger number, Raphael, Verrocchio,
Paul Veronese, Francesco Albani,
Perugino, Tintoretto, and many others
painted fine pictures of this subject, which,
besides its great interest from its importance
in the life of the Saviour, affords
an opportunity for the representation of
a beautiful landscape. The picture by
Rubens excels in this regard ; and in his
magnificent setting he has a group of
about thirty figures, producing the gorgeous
effect which characterizes his work,
but failing to suggest the divinity of
Christ, or the devotional feeling of the
works of Raphael or Verrocchio, and en-
tirely lacking the tenderness of Lorenzo
di Credi.

The Bible also contains various texts
which authorize a belief in the existence
of Satan and his demons. Isaiah
exclaims," How art thou fallen from
heaven, O Lucifer, Son of the Morning."
St Matthew speaks of the devil and all
his angels, and many other Biblical ex-
pressions warrant us in believing that the
Spirit of Evil with his attendants is ever
tempting men to sin, thus plainly war-
ranting the Fathers in their teaching, to
which we have referred.

It is not possible to picture the Temptation
of Christ In an attractive manner.
Satan has been represented in various
monstrous and repulsive forms by some
artists, while others have given him such
disguises as might well deceive an ordinary
mortal He has thus been presented
in the garb and with the bearing of a
venerable peasant, and again as a monk
with robe and cowl, but his especial sym~
bols usually manifest themselves, in spite
of all disguises.

The picture by Ary Scheffer, in the
Louvre, which our illustration reproduces,
tells the story of the temptation very
simply and directly. The style of this
painter, sad and almost hopeless, is well
suited to subjects of this nature. The
contrast between the perfect serenity of
the Saviour, and the hideous anxiety and
determination of Satan, renders this rep-
resentation as acceptable as so unlovely
a subject can be made.

In Perugino's famous picture in the
Sala del Incendio, in the Vatican, Jesus
and Satan are seen in mid-air, like a
vision, while in the background, sur-

ARY SCHEFFER. THE TEMPTATION OF CHRIST.

rounded by a dazzling light, another
figure of Jesus is seen between two
ministering angels, while the whole scene
is encircled by a multitude of cherubim
and angels.

In some pictures of this subject angels
are represented as if waiting to support
the Master when he shall turn from the
demon, but far more attractive than these
are the representations in which Satan
does not appear, and angels minister to
Christ in the wilderness, as if illustrating
these beautiful lines :

"They in a flowery valley set him down
On a green bank, and straight before him spread
A table of celestial food divine
Ambrosial fruits, fetched from the Tree of Life--
And from the fount of life celestial drink.
And as he fed, angelic quires
Sang heavenly anthems."

One of Murillo's splendid works was
founded on the account of the pool at
Bethesda, as given in John v., 2-8. This
was a favorite subject for hospitals, and
Murillo painted it for a hospital in Seville,
from which it was stolen by Marshal
Soult.

In the foreground are Christ, the lame
man, and three Apostles; in the back-
ground is the pool with its fine porches,
above which, in a glorious, dazzling light,
the angel hovers, as if about to descend
to stir the waters.

It is a magnificent example of the wonderful
power of Murillo. The beauty and
tenderness of the head of Christ, and the
graciousness of his whole bearing, affect
the beholder as do few representations of
our Lord. The atmosphere is soft and
translucent, the angel gently floats rather
than flies, and the porches, while not too
ornate, impart a dignified balance to the
scene. The coloring is such as is peculiar
to Spanish art, rich and subdued in
contrast with that of the Italians. For
example, the red robe and blue mantle,
so familiar in pictures of Christ, are here
replaced by a rich violet color, most
harmonious with the sentiment of the
scene.

There is an ancient picture of this
subject in a church near Bologna, supposed
to be the work of two artists,
Jacopo Avanzi, and Lippo d'Almasio. In
the same city, in the Church of San Giorgio,
is the picture by Ludovico Caracci,
which is, to say the least, very decorative,
and has been generously praised by some
writers on Art Many representations of
the pool of Bethesda are in hospitals,
as, for example, that by Sebastian Conca
at Siena, rather than in galleries; for
this reason it is less familiar than are
many other scenes in which angels are
represented.

There are some subjects too sacred in
their character and too spiritually subtle
in their significance to be adequately pic-
tured to the eye. One of these, to my
mind, is the Agony in the Garden of
Gethsemane. It has, however, appealed
to many artists, and one must admit
that the night scene, the sleeping disciples,
the suffering Christ, the consoling
angel, the approaching traitor, and the
dimly discerned city of Jerusalem afford
unusually picturesque elements for an
effective picture. All these have been
artistically treated, but The Divine, the
central thought in the scene, can scarcely
be satisfactorily expressed.

A most surprising error that has fre-
quently been made in pictures of this
subject, is that of giving undue promi-
nence to the sleeping disciples. Their
figures are often placed in the very fore-
ground, as if the spectator should chiefly
consider the unfortunate somnolence of

Sir Edward Burne-Jones--Mary Magdalene at the Sepulchre

these men; by which means the figures
of Jesus and the angel are made to ap-
pear as secondary. I have seen no picture
in which the sleeping disciples are
satisfactorily introduced, and I greatly
prefer certain curious ancient represen-
tations of the Agony, in which Christ
and the angel only are present.

Many famous artists, from the time of
Mantegna, have painted their conceptions
of the wonderful scene in the Garden.
Correggio has at least made Jesus the
chief person, and his angel is apparently
suited to his office of a comforter. Paul
Veronese, Albert Diirer, and Rembrandt
have all painted powerful pictures of this
subject, and Ary Scheffer has depicted
the Agony of Christ with living vividness;
but one and all of these works fall
so far short of one's highest conception
of this wonderful event, that, except as
examples of the design, coloring, and
manner of these masters, they appear to
me of little value.

The visit of the women to the sepulchre
of Christ is variously represented,
as would naturally result from the dif-
ferent accounts given by the Evangelists.
Some pictures represent Mary Magdalene
alone, when she saw two angels sitting
where the body of Christ had lain, and
almost immediately beheld the risen Lord
near by, as in our illustration after
Burne-Jones. Again, the other women
are pictured who saw two men in shining
garments, and were told," He is not here,
but is risen;" more frequently the three
Maries are represented coming to the
sepulchre, bearing spices, and finding the
guards paralyzed with terror, and an
angel who tells them that the Lord is
risen.

These scenes have been represented
in Art from its earliest and rudest be
ours. Murlllo, on the contrary, shows
us three ordinary travellers, and but for
the title of the picture, we should not
suspect that these men were celestial
visitors. A large picture of this subject
by Rembrandt is one of the treasures
of the Hermitage.

Jacob's dream, with the ascending and
descending angels, is an exquisite motive
for illustration, and has been variously
pictured. A single angel sometimes
watches the sleeper, as if to inspire his
dream and bring him a blessing; again,
there are many angels, and again, but a
small number, who move here and there,
up and down, imparting a remarkable
effect of airy, graceful motion. The
ladder, too, is widely varied, being repre-
sented by one or several flights of steps,
ascending to the clouds.

 

 

.......and elements from the sacred legends.
There is no scriptural warrant for the
presence of Satan and his demons in
this scene, horribly effective and impressive
as they are; but I have reason
to think that this element is thoughtlessly
accepted as authoritative by many
who interest themselves in religious art.

This subject was not represented in
sculpture or painting before the eleventh
century, and but rarely after that until
three centuries later, when it was won-
derfully portrayed, notably by Orcagna,
In the Campo Santo at Pisa.

The portions of these pictures for
which there is scriptural authority are
important. Christ is the Judge in ac-
cordance with his own words, Matthew
xvi, 27: "For the Son of man shall
come in the glory of his Father with
his angels; and then he shall reward
every man according to his works." And
still more emphatically in Matthew xxv.,
31-46, where the word-picture of the
Judgment is a vividly realistic description
of some artistic representations of
this scene.

The Apostles seated on each side of
Christ are also warranted by his words
in Luke xxii., 30 :" That ye may ... sit
on thrones judging the twelve tribes of
Israel." The Virgin, St John the Baptist,
patriarchs, prophets, and saints are
all admissible on the authority of St
Paul, who says, I. Corinthians vL, 2:
"Do ye not know that the saints shall
judge the world?" And in the following
sentence: "Know ye not that we
shall judge angels?"

The angels are deputed to "gather
together his elect from the four winds,"
Mark xiiin 27, and those who fill this
office are the trumpet angels in all these
representations.

The division of those to be judged rests
on Daniel xii., 2: "And many of them
that sleep in the dust of the earth shall
awake, some to everlasting life, and some
to shame and everlasting contempt;" and
even more positively on Christ's words in
Matthew xxv., already referred to.

In the utter absence of scriptural warrant
for the picturing of the devil and
his satellites, who seize, torture, and hurl
into hell those doomed to shame and
endless contempt, what defence of it can
be made ? Certainly none from an artistic
standpoint; and this consideration
should have prevented such representa-
tions. Artists should be commiserated
who could not sufficiently express the
woe of the condemned by the wretched-
nessof their faces and manner, as, hearing
the fatal" Depart from me, ye cursed, into
everlasting fire, prepared for the devil and
angels," they go to the left, not dar-

FRA ANGELICO AN ANGEL CONDUCTING A SOUL TO HEAVEN.

ing to raise their eyes to Christ, nor even
to look at the blessed of his kingdom.

It would be a pleasure to consider
separately the different methods of rep-
resenting the Judge of all the world
and those surrounding him, as seen in
the works of the masters, but we are here
concerned with the angels alone, of which,
in nearly all these pictures, there are three
classes.

The angels who hold the cross, scourge,
nails, crown of thorns, and other symbols
of the Passion of Christ, emphasize the
theological teaching that men are judged
according to their acceptance or rejection
of the Atonement by Christ for the sins
of the world In early pictures of the
Judgment these angels stand on douds,
below the Judge, but later they were
depicted as hovering above the Judg-
ment Seat In whatever position they
are placed, they appear to attribute a
vast importance to the prominence of
the symbols of the Passion. Fra Angel-
Ico happily places a single angel at the
feet of Christ with the cross alone, as a
complete symbol of the suffering and
death of Jesus.

The trumpet angels vary in number
from two to many, and are differently
placed according to the varying designs
of the artists. Orcagna and Fra Angelico
placed them below the Judge, thus indicating
that their sound could be heard in
all the earth. In other pictures, they sound
the trumpets directly above the graves,
which open, displaying the rising dead,
startled from their long sleep and struggling
to gain a foothold on the earth above.

The third class of angels are those who
announce their fate to all who are to be
judged. They sometimes hold the balance
in which souls are weighed; again,
they direct those who come to judgment
to the right or left, as In our picture from
the Last Judgment by Fra Angelico, in
the Florentine Academy; and, again, as
in Orcagna's great picture in the Campo
Santo at Pisa, a grand warrior angel, with
splendid wings, a true St Michael,
clad in full armor, with his sword by his
side, a glorious halo about his head, and
the angelic flame above his brow, holds
out two scrolls, one of joy and one of
woe, on which are written the names
of the entire human race.

The pictures of the Last Judgment
by Orcagna, Angelico, and Signorelli, in
the Cathedral of Orvieto, and Michael
Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel, are among
the famous pictures of the world.

The Scriptures mention still other ap-
pearances of angels, as that to Cornelius,
when he was directed to send to Joppa
for Peter; and, again, when Peter was
in prison and the Church prayed for him,
an angel led him forth and the Apostle
departed to Cesarea for safety.

Philip was sent by an angel to meet
the Ethiopian eunuch, and teach him the
truth, after which he baptized the eunuch,
and was then caught away by the Spirit,
or angel of the Lord.

At times the angels were sent on missions
of punishment, as when Herod, in
the midst of his blasphemy, was smitten by
God's messenger, and gave up the ghost.

These subjects are rich in artistic sug-
gestion, and nearly all have been repre-
sented in painting or sculpture. The
book of the Revelation, too, abounds in
visions of angels, from the beginning,
when an angel from heaven "signified it"
to John the Divine, to the end, when the
angel refused to be worshipped, and dedared
himself the fellow servant of John,
and of the prophets, and of all that keep
the sayings of the book.