Archangels were a Popular Subject of Renaissance Artists
{Archangels were a commonplace subject for artists from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance Period. As angels who played a pivotal role in many biblical stories, the four Archangels – Michael, Gabriel, Raphael and Uriel were prominent in religious lore of Christianity, Juadaism and Islam, though mentioned very little in the canonical Gospels. Archangel statues are still present across Europe due to the popularity they received during the Renaissance era.
The most famed of the Archangel Michael resides in the Santa Maria della Concezione, a church commissioned by Pope Urban VIII in 1626. The work is from Renaissance painter Guido Reni, who was a master of the Baroque style which evolved from the Roman Catholic Churches edict that religious art should appeal to the common man with drama and emotion. Reni’s The Archangel Michael shows the fair haired, musculatured angel with androgynous features standing above Satan, with his foot against the demon’s head forcing him into submission. The painting depicts a scene from the book of Revelations where Archangel Michael commands an Angel Army against the Devil and binds him for 1000 years. The painting is often referred to as Archangel Michael Slaying the Devil.
God’s Messenger Gabriel was the angel who told the Virgin Mary that she would be touched by God and bear a son named Jesus. This biblical event is referred to as The Annunciation and is a common theme of Renaissance art. Two works stand out as iconic paintings on the subject. Da Vinci’s the Annunciation was painted from 1472-1475 and is credited to both Da Vinci and his mentor Andrea del Verrocchio. In the painting Archangel Gabriel kneels before Mary, a Madonna lily in hand which historians believe symbolizes Mary’s virginity.
The Cestello Annunciation by Botticelli, commissioned in 1489, captures the same event with similar imagery. The painting is noted for its use of perspective in the tiles that lead the eye to the landscape. Botticelli paints Gabriel with mouth open, to represent his words from the Gospel of Luke which were added into the paintings original frame. Both paintings are on exhibit at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence.
The angel Raphael was most often captured in oil as the guardian of Tobias, son of Tobit on his sojourn to recover money his father had hidden, a passage from the Book of Tobit. His role as protector and god of healing is evident in these paintings that show him leading the boy by his hand. Filippino Lippi’s version of Tobias and the Angel can be seen at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. The Book of Tobit became a popular subject for Rembrandt, who embraced the story of the pious family challenged by adversity and assisted by the Archangel Raphael.
Da Vinci created two nearly identical paintings titled Virgin of the Rocks or Madonna of the Rocks. The painting depict a moment where the baby Jesus encounters his cousin John the Baptist as an infant. In the paintings, the Archangel Gabriel looks on. Subtle variations can be seen in Da Vinci’s two works. In the version that hangs in the Lourve Uriel points at John. In the version of the painting exhibited in the National Gallery in London, Mary, Jesus and John are haloed. While the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has created some controversy around these paintings and the true identity of Jesus in the image – art historians surmise that the original where Uriel points at John who is closest to Mary may have caused confusion about which infant was Jesus and the second painting by Da Vinci removed Uriel’s extended hand.}