NOT ALL ANGELS HAVE WINGS: SCRIPTURE AND GRAECO-ROMAN MODELS IN LATE ANTIQUE ANGEL ICONOGRAPHY
NOT ALL ANGELS HAVE WINGS: SCRIPTURE AND GRAECO-ROMAN MODELS IN LATE ANTIQUE ANGEL ICONOGRAPHY

Summary/Abstract: The present paper examines a category of divine beings that were not without faces, but without bodies. Angels constitute one of the most complex visual themes in Late Antique art, precisely because their theoretical definition was far from straightforward in relation both to the transcendent God and to his human manifestation, Jesus Christ. As a result of the inevitable influence of Roman imperial art during the reign of Constantine, the supernatural and incorporeal nature of angels began to be expressed visually through the addition of wings. Thus emerged one of the most enduring iconographic figures of Late Antiquity and the Middle Ages. It is generally accepted that, from the end of the fourth century AD onwards, angels were typically represented as winged youths. This paper seeks to identify other creative patterns that may have influenced the representation of angels in Late Antique art. The present analysis suggests that at least two additional factors should be taken into consideration. The first is the close relationship between Christian art and written sources, whether the Bible itself or its numerous commentaries and interpretations. To a significant extent, the visual language of Christian art remained rooted in its textual foundations. At the same time, the selection of particular subjects or specific modes of representation could itself constitute a form of visual exegesis. The second factor concerns the triumphal visual language inherited from Roman art. Since one of the principal visual models for the canonical image of the angel was the personification of Victory, angels also became integrated into the language of triumph, whether that of the Roman emperors or that of the Christian Church. Particularly in monumental art, however, angels belonging to the triumphal visual tradition remain clearly distinguishable from those derived primarily from the Christian scriptural tradition.

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