of overwhelming beauty, infinitely powerful, immensely kind and gentle, they amaze, they subjugate …

4. of overwhelming beauty,
infinitely powerful, immensely kind and gentle,
they amaze, they subjugate …

5. Musician Angels
in Western painting

6. The Virgin and Child surrounded by angels playing music …
a very graceful and refined version of an iconographic type that was extremely
popular at the time
(The influence of the Sienese masters is obvious, however, the Serra brothers learnt
this style not in Siena but in Avignon where the Papal Court was the most important
northern center of the late Gothic Italian painting.)
Pere Serra
Virgin of the Angels
Vierge des Anges
1385
Museu Nacional d'Art de Catalunya, Barcelona

8. Musical Angels by Giotto di Bondone ...
courtly fashion, elegant gestures,
symbolizing praise, and evoking the trouvères of courtly love and those musical
beauties that the aristocracy began to discover through the Ars Nova
Giotto di Bondone
Baroncelli Polyptych. Side panels, Saints in glory
with musician angels
Le Polyptyque Baroncelli. Panneaux latéraux, Saints
en gloire avec des anges musiciens
1334
Baroncelli, Santa Croce, Florence

11. Two angels playing music,
Saint Barbara, with her attribute - the tower, meditating
and
an anonymous donor kneeling recites his rosary while
contemplating the mystical marriage of Saint Catherine.
Hans Memling
Virgin and Child with Saints Catherine of Alexandria and Barbara.
The Mystic Marriage of St Catherine
Vierge et l'Enfant avec sainte Catherine d'Alexandrie et Barbara.
Le Mariage mystique de sainte Catherine
1480
Metropolitan Museum of Art, Manhattan, New York City

13. The Christ surrounded by angels ...
On the two side shutters, angels play musical instruments,
their instruments are typical of the fifteenth century.
Hans Memling
Christ with singing and music-making Angels
Le Christ entouré d’anges chantant la gloire
de l'Éternel
1480
Royal Museum of Fine Arts Antwerp, Antwerp

16. God the Father entrusts the Archangel Gabriel with the task of the announcement,
placing a garland on his head and handing him the branch of the lily,
a crowd of angels on blue clouds celebrate with trumpets, drums and flutes,
in the foreground, Gabriel greets the Virgin in the loggia in front of his house.
Paolo Uccello, attributed to, attribué à
The Annunciation
L'Annonciation
1425
Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford, Oxford

19. The Virgin, the Child
and
two musician angels playing a viola da braccio and a portable organ,
with absorbed melancholic expressions.
Zanobi Strozzi
The Madonna of Humility with Two Musician Angels
Madone de l'humilité avec deux anges musiciens
1448-1450
Museo Poldi Pezzoli, Milan

22. Aolemn and monumental ...
the Angeli musicanti were part of the old decoration
of the apse of the Church of the Santi Apostoli in Rome
Melozzo da Forlì
Angeli musicanti
Music-making Angel
Anges musiciens
1480-1484
Pinacoteca, Vatican

26. an angel in white blows a tenor or alto shawm, a precursor of the English horn,
an angel in wine red robes strums a Gothic harp,
a brass trumpet is held by an angel in lilac blue,
dressed in pure yellow, another celestial musician pumps the bellows
of a portative organ,
an angel bows a vielle, an early form of violin
and
an angel in cherry red plucks a lute ...
A painting of radiant beauty and an exceptionally important document
for the history of music.
Master of the Legend of Saint Lucy, Maître de la Légende de sainte Lucie
Mary, Queen of Heaven
Marie, reine des Cieux
1485
National Gallery of Art, Washington

28. Central panel:
Christ is surrounded by angels who sing,
dance and play musical instruments.
He is shown triumphant over death: his red and white flag
was associated with his resurrection; the wound in his right hand,
caused when he was crucified, is a reminder of his physical suffering.
Fra Angelico
Pala di Fiesole Predella, Christ Glorified in the Court of Heaven
Pala di Fiesole Prédelle, Christ Glorifié dans la Cour des Cieux
1423-1424
National Gallery, London

32. … they do not have wings
the only angel fully visible is the organist,
other angels carry stringed instruments, including a small harp and a type of viol.
Jan van Eyck and Hubert van Eyck
Ghent Altarpiece, Music-making Angels
L’Adoration de l'Agneau mystique ou Autel de Gand, Anges musiciens
1430-1432
Saint Bavo Cathedral, Ghent

34. an exquisite angel playing music ...
Joseph holds a manuscript
and
the Angel playing a motet in honor of the Madonna, Quam pulchra es ...
Caravaggio, Le Caravage
Rest on the Flight into Egypt
Le repos pendant la fuite en Égypte
1594-1596
Galleria Doria Pamphilj, Rome

37. an unusual composition ...
a musical angel accompanying the Virgin and the Christ child
(... and who looks more like a minstrel, European medieval musician,
sometimes playing at the feet of their lord or mistress,
sometimes standing next to him, in a sensual, almost amorous proximity).
Piero di Cosimo
Virgin and Child with Two Angels
Vierge à l'Enfant avec des anges
1505-1510
Collezione Vittorio Cini, Venice

39. Fourteen saints participate as witnesses at the Baptism of Christ,
God the father is enthroned above, two angels support his cloak
and
two musician angels
Master of the Saint Bartholomew Altarpiece,
Maître du Retable de saint Barthélemy
The Baptism of Christ
Baptême du Christ
1500
National Gallery of Art, Washington DC

42. The combat of the archangel with the fallen angels
is described in the Book of Revelation (12, 3-9) ...
the fallen angels, demonic creatures
deformed, grotesque, ugly figures,
viscous fish with arms, lizard scales, crustacean paws ...,
the archangel Michael with a sword
and
angelic musicians playing their instruments as if the war
between good and evil has already been played out ..
Playing the trumpets foreshadow a successful triumph.
Pieter Brueghel the Elder, Pieter Brueghel l'Ancien
The Fall of the Rebel Angels
La Chute des anges rebelles
1562
Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium, Brussels

46. The central panel of the second view of the Isenheim Altarpiece:
The musician angels are crowded into the Gothic chapel.
A blond-haired angel, dressed in pale violet robe, plays the viola da gamba.
His exalted expression and his beautiful instrument
fill the entire picture with music.
Behind him one of his mates plays the viola da braccio
and
another bird-like, feather-covered dark angel also plays the viola da gamba.
Matthias Grünewald
Isenheim Altarpiece. Concert of Angels
Retable d'Issenheim. Concert des Anges
1515
Musée d'Unterlinden, Colmar

51. a child angel apparently unconfident
in his effort to handle the lute so overly large ...
Rosso Fiorentino
Angel Playing the Lute or Musical Angel
Angelot jouant du luth ou Angelot musicien
1521
Galleria degli Uffizi, Florence

53. An extraordinarily inventive composition,
dominated by the enormous wings of the angel
and by the diagonal of the bass viol ...
a beautiful young woman, the patron saint of musicians
and musical instrument makers, tuning her lute with a delicate movement,
according to the instructions of an angel.
Carlo Saraceni
Saint Cecilia and the Angel
Sainte Cécile et l’ange
1610
Galleria Nazionale d'Arte Antica, Rome

55. angels serenading the sleeping Jesus in Mary's arms …
William-Adolphe Bouguereau
La Vierge aux Anges, Le chant des anges
Virgin of the Angels, Song of the Angels
1881
Getty Center J. Paul Getty Trust , Los Angeles

57. the Roman goddess of the dawn, triumphant in dispelling Night ...
Aurora breaks the shackles of night,
three angels with pink wings and wearing golden tunics
are blowing their trumpets to announce the beginning of a new day
and
Nix, the personification of Night, giving way to Aurora,
only to return at the end of the day.
Evelyn De Morgan
Aurora Triumphans
Aurore Triomphante
1886
Russell-Cotes Art Gallery and Museum, Bournemouth

60. an ornate and bejeweled nocturne ...
the saint in religious ecstasy
and
angels with musical instruments
Gustave Moreau
Sainte Cécile, Les anges lui annoncent son prochain martyre
Saint Cecilia, Angels Announcing Her Impending Martyrdom
1897
Private collection

63. a magic tree,
a magic castle,
a red bird flying down towards a crowned couple
beneath a canopy,
a violinist lovingly bent over his instrument
and
a musical angel whose body is made up of his cello
Marc Chagall
Plafond de l’Opéra Garnier, panneau principal,
Stravinski “L’Oiseau de feu”
Ceiling of Palais Garnier, main panel,
Stravinsky “The Firebird”
1963-1964
Opéra Garnier, Paris

66. Two years after the Opera Garnier ...
An entire orchestra of flamboyant colors celebrating the music
decorates the south facade of the foyer of the Metropolitan Opera,
instruments, singers, dancers in a brilliant fanfare
and
in the upper part, flying diagonally,
a golden angel with a trumpet, allegory of triumphant music
Marc Chagall
Le Triomphe de la Musique
The Triumph of Music
Esquisse définitive pour la peinture murale du Metropolitan Opera
Preparatory drawing for the Metropolitan Opera mural
1966
Private collection

69. o.esqsegues@gmail.com
Musician Angels in Western painting
Anges musiciens dans la peinture occidentale
images and text credit www.
Music The Piano Guys Pictures At An Exhibition (Piano Cello)
created olga.e.
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