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‘another Mighty Angel Coming Down’: Biblical Angels And Earthly Representation

Undergraduate Dissertation

Date : 17/05/2016

Author Information

Sophie Rae

Uploaded by : Sophie Rae
Uploaded on : 17/05/2016
Subject : English

Introduction

The word angel, for me, conjures a certain distinct image: a child dressed in a discarded white bed sheet with a tinsel halo (gold or silver) and, if that child is particularly fortunate, a pair of glittered, elasticated wings, probably from Woolworths. This image, however, has no biblical roots, despite its situation in the Nativity. Biblical angels have become a visual phenomenon, used and represented from high art to popular culture. Whilst modern artists such as Stephen De Staebler (see figure 2) and L on Ferrari (see figure 3) continue to sculpt and paint angels in their political and religious works, the angel has become commoditised in Guardian Angel pendants (see figure 4), perfumes (see figure 5), and popular song lyrics to name a few. Needless to say, the human perception of angels has dramatically shifted during the last two thousand years, and I argue that our impression of angelic physiognomy is at the forefront of our understanding of their role in its entirety.

Feisal G. Mohamed in his 2008 In the Anteroom of Divinity differentiates between human and angelic bodies, paraphrasing Saint Thomas Aquinas in stating: that humanity is part body and part spirit [ ] indicates the existence of beings that are pure spirit if angels are pure spirit, they have no need of a body (5). However, it would appear that angels deliberately adopt bodies so that we might understand them as beings. Joad Raymond quotes the seventeenth century priest John Pordage in Milton s Angels: The Early-Modern Imagination (2010), claiming: Angels are self-Taylors : the invisible body is clothed with a corresponding visible body (183). Thus, angels actively clothe themselves with a physical body, and it is this body with which humans have become obsessed. In a material world, our understanding of angels can only be formed by how we view them physically. As Erika Langmuir states in A Closer Look: Angels (2010): Western angels originate in scri pture [but] are familiar [ ] even to people who have never read the Bible (5). She argues that this familiarity [ ] comes above all from the frequency with which angels have been pictured [ ]. We can imagine angels because we [ ] have seen so many images of them (5). Nevertheless, the question: what do angels look like? has no simple and definitive answer. The contrasting biblical descri ptions of angels have been repeatedly illustrated and rewritten, complicating our perception of angelic physiognomy. In discussing Dionysuis angelic hierarchy, Mohamed notes: This hierarchy generates distance between human knowledge and the profound mystery of divinity (4). I argue that this distance presides not only between humans and God, but also between humans and angels. Thus, this distance in knowledge renders it impossible to represent angels accurately in attempting to represent biblical angels physiologically, human depictions inevitably make angels fallen, earthly creatures.

Mary Shelley s Frankenstien (1818) presents a man with the power to create another living being whose ventures lead to ruin and death, problematizing this power. As humans recreate biblical angels, they create flawed creatures, unable to replicate the divinity of the original creation. In applying human understanding to the creation process: Some miracle might have produced it, yet the stages of the discovery were distinct and probable (30), Frankenstein inevitably produces a monster. I must state that I am examining the depiction of good or unfallen angels. In attempting to depict fallen angels, that it is exactly what we do it is the divinity of unfallen angels that makes them impossible for humans to represent, as we are unable to truly comprehend such pure innocence. Laura Sangha s Angels and Belief in England, 1480-1700 (2012) identifies a lack of scholarship concerning angels despite the recent interest in spiritual discourses of the Medieval and Early Modern periods. She further categorises this, noting instantly the neglect of good angels at the expense of the evil (1). As Sangha begins to contribute to this critical gap, I will do also, assessing the physical representation of good angels.

I claim that angelic representation underwent significant transformation between 1500 and 1900, first in the Early Modern period and then again in the Victorian period, and that it is these transformations that have cemented our modern angelic understanding. Impossible to ignore is Milton s rewriting of Genesis in Paradise Lost (1667), which not only recreated angels in an entirely new way, but spurred a wealth of consideration and representation of the angelic form. Joad Raymond states: Protestantism in Britain did result in a decline in interest in [ ] visual representation of angels, [and Britain] related to angels through words and ideas, not pictures and gestures (356). This may be so, but in terms of the physiological understanding of angels, I argue that Paradise Lost prompted a new wave of visual angelic representation, particularly through Blake, which brings me on the Victorian period. William Blake s Paradise Lost illustrations are so important in the simple fact that they visualise Milton s rewriting of scri pture and first create angels as a visual actuality in western culture. Thus, whilst Milton first characterises angels as distinct beings, Blake physicalizes them through the medium of visual art.

The latter half of the nineteenth century was equally pivotal in shaping our perception of angels. The Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood s interest in religious art has been extensively discussed in scholarship in recent years, but their treatment of angels seems to have been omitted from this discourse as noted by va P teri in her 2003 study, Victorian Approaches to Religion as Reflected in the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites (7). In her contribution to the recently published Cambridge Companion to the Pre-Raphaelites, Michaela Giebelhausen states: the Pre-Raphaelites were mostly interested in religious subject matter because it chimed with their quest for earnestness and sincerity in art (67). This quest for earnestness and sincerity can be seen in Pre-Raphaelite angelic representations, as they go to extreme lengths to depict angels as innocent, non-sexualised beings.

This study is divided into three sections. First is a short introductory chapter outlining biblical angelic form, concluding that angelic hierarchy correlates to their level of bodily earthliness. I then assess Milton s destabilisation of biblically structured angelic hierarchy, arguing that he makes the angelic body fluid in order to use his angels in multiple roles. Second is a discussion of angelic nudity and clothing, assessing Milton and Blake s representations. I argue that angels ought to be depicted in their natural, nude state and that any discomfort with angelic nudity is no more than a reflection of our own fallenness. Clothing in itself further anchors angels to the material world, indicating the human incapacity to represent angels as truly heavenly or unearthly. Third is an assessment of Pre-Raphaelite treatment of angels in relation to age and gender. I argue that Pre-Raphaelite representations create an alternative ideal in direct response to Victorian ideals, cementing angels as genderless and youthful. In this way the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood avoid sexualised angels, reacting against any possibility of sexuality in their representations. To conclude, I touch briefly upon modern-day angelic representations, looking at the 1999 film Dogma and the 1998 children s novel Skellig, assessing the extent to which they are shaped by Milton, Blake and the Pre-Raphaelites recreations. Essentially, as biblical angels are humanly represented, a sexual-consciousness occurs, making the unfallen angel appear fallen.

Figure 2. De Staebler, Stephen. Angel. 1989. Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco. Dolby Chadwick Gallery. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.

Figure 3. Ferrari, L on. From L Osservatore Romano. 2001, reproduced 2007. Tate Modern, London. Tate. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.

Figure 4. Gerrard, Claire. Silver Guardian Angel Pendant. Not on the High Street.com. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.

Figure 5. Naomi Watts Ad. for Theirry Mugler s Angel . 1992. The Perfume Baseline. Web. 20 Apr. 2013.

Angelic Form

Throughout the Bible we are presented with contrasting descri ptions of angels in different forms. I will be focusing on the three predominant angelic forms in the Bible: angels appearing as men, cherubim and seraphim. Whilst there are many biblical passages where the physicality of angels is left unspecified, the most visual descri ptions of angels occur in relation to these three species. It is through looking at these descri ptions that I will illuminate the importance of angelic physiognomy, arguing that the level of earthliness in the angelic body directly correlates to the angelic hierarchical positioning.

In Genesis 18 Abraham is met by the Lord through three angels who appear to him as men, the possibility of which is reiterated by St. Paul: Be not forgetful to entertain strangers: for thereby some have entertained angels unawares (King James Bible Hebrews 13:2). Emanuel Swedenborg deals exclusively with angels as men in The Earths in Our Solar System (1758), instantly stating and repeatedly reiterating through the text: It is necessary that it be known that all sprits and angels are from the human race (1). Furthermore, he rationalises the coming to Abraham, claiming that men: adore the Divine, not as an invisible Divine, but as visible, for this reason, besides others, that when the Divine appears to them it is in the Human Form, as He formerly did to Abraham and others on this Earth (3-4 my emphasis). John Rogers writes on the Vitalist Movement, claiming that angels and humans are made of the same matter. Whilst Rogers notes this movement was short lived, he acknowledges its importance in shaping our understanding of angels in relation to ourselves. This notion of God appearing in human form through angels anchors angels to the earthly world, materialising divinity to account for the spiritual blindness of men.

Cherubim are the Lord s guard, usually dwelling one either side of Him. In Genesis, though, they are used to guard the way of the tree of life , each with a flaming sword which turned every way (3:24). As the most commonly physically described angel, the representation of cherubim begins in Exodus when Moses is instructed to build a tabernacle (25:18). In their role of guard, cherubim seem to be represented as earthy, beast-like beings. Langmuir acknowledges this, noting that cherubim comes from the Hebrew k rubim, Babylonian deities represented in sculpture as winged giants with human heads and the bodies of lions or bulls (23). The angelic hierarchy, therefore, stands between angels who appear as men, ultimately earthly beings, and cherubim who manifest as beastly giants whose role as guards situate them in a position of public service.

Then there are the seraphim: six-winged, singing giants. Seraphim are considered the highest caste of angel as Clara Erskine Clement records in Angels in Art (1899): Dionysius the Aeropagite [ ] accords the first rank to the seraphim (17). Whilst seraphim are usually depicted as winged human-like creatures or heads, Langmuir notes: The Hebrew word s raphim originally meant burning ones and is elsewhere translated as fiery flying serpents (for example in Isaiah 30:6) (26). She goes on to reason that perhaps the depiction of both cherubim and seraphim as winged, disembodied heads is due to the discomfort at giving [them] the bodies of lower animals (26). Seraphim only appear once in the Bible, to Isaiah, but this single passage has been re-written and illustrated countless times, perhaps most famously by Milton. Milton complicates the angelic body, as I will go on to examine, creating Raphael as reminiscent of Isaiah, whilst re-appropriating the serpentine linguistic roots for Satan in an attempt to separate Satan as fallen to Raphael as unfallen.

The angelic hierarchy between these three species corresponds to how earthly their bodies are. The human-like angels never speak and their only purpose is as a marker for God s presence. The cherubim, next up in the order, are seen as a mixture between man and animal. They have a set role, but a decidedly unglamorous one. Seraphim are the most spectacular looking breed with their six wings, flanking the throne of God as they sing in chorus. The seraphim are magnificent, and their purpose is simply to reside in Paradise with the Father. Therefore, the highest angels are the least earthly, seemingly a trait to be desired.

This issue of earthliness poses a problem in depicting angels as natural. Whilst nature is generally idealised in literature, the human view of nature is decidedly materialistic, and so our idealised representation of angels as natural materialises them, making them earthly. Swedenborg attempts to describe angels as natural and elemental: There appeared a flame of considerable brightness, which [ ] signified the advent of some spirits of Mercury (8-9), yet deliberately states time and time again that they had no delight in regarding material, corporeal, and terrestrial things (6). The same anxiety can be seen over a century later in Clement, where she differentiates between bird-wings and angel-wings, noting the apparently universal dissatisfaction with the image of angels with fowl s wings (Daniel 7:6). She quotes Anna Brownell Jameson: Infinitely more beautiful and consistent are the nondescri pt wings which the early painters gave their angels (qtd. by Clement 24 my emphasis). Thus there is a tension between presenting angels as earthly and idealising them as other-worldly we are unable to represent the fantastical angel at the upper end of the angelic hierarchy.

Milton complicates the angelic hierarchy, destabilising angelic physiology in order to use angels in multiple ways within his narrative. This can be seen most in Milton s shape-shifting Raphael, to whom I will return, but we cannot ignore Satan s changeability of body which enables him to perform different roles. Of course, Satan s transformation into the serpent in Book IX is the prime example of this, but this is not the first time Satan changes shape in Book III before conversing with Uriel he appears as a stripling cherub (line 636). However, in this case Satan s is not a simple bodily transformation he seems to copy the shape from Uriel whom he sees from behind at a distance. After seeing a glorious angel stand, [ ] Of beaming sunny rays, a golden triar / Circled his head, nor less his locks behind / Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings / Lay waving round (lines 622-628), Satan casts to change his proper shape, [ ] And now a stripling cherub he appears, [ ] Under a coronet his flowing hair / In curls on either cheek played, wings he wore / Of many a coloured plume sprinkled with gold (lines 634-642). The three physical traits attributed to Uriel in this descri ption are his crown/halo, his long hair, and his wings. Once Satan becomes a cherub, the same three traits are described. Furthermore, the wings he wore (my emphasis) suggest a costume Satan is merely dressing as the angel he sees before him, suggesting an element of performativity in Satan s character. Milton manipulates the set angelic hierarchy presented in the Bible and turns angelic form into something changeable so that he might use angels to perform different roles. In this way, the hierarchy is broken down, and power no longer corresponds to the physiological earthliness or unearthliness of the angel at hand. Thus we see a tension between using the Bible as a source of theological truth and deviating from this original source in recreating angels through our own earthly representation.

Nudity and Clothing

As divine beings and a part of God s original, unfallen creation, angels ought to be depicted in their natural state: nude. However, angels have become defined by not only their bodies namely wings and halos but by their dress. Milton s altering of biblical angelic form extends into the issue of nudity and clothing. The question of whether angels ought to be clothed is one faced by numerous writers and artists in representing biblical angels. Clara Erskine Clement discusses the history of artistic depictions of angelic clothing, assessing the extent to which the Venetian[ ] exquisite salmon colour in the drapery [or] the early German [ ] angelic draperies of [ ] vast expanse and weighty colouring can be considered successful in portraying absolutely unearthly angels (32-36). Thus, the desire remains to make angels as unearthly as possible. It is worth noting, however, that using nudity to achieve this divinity is not at all considered. I will be arguing against this apparent need for angelic drapery, claiming that the reluctance to represent biblical angels as nude is a reflection on human fallenness, not an attempt at rescuing the purity of a postlapsarian being.

Nudity is not an issue for angels in scri pture it is only very rarely mentioned in relation to clothing, the meaning of which transcends the simple purpose of covering the naked body. The only biblical instance of clothed angels is in Revelation. First is another mighty angel com[ing] down from heaven, clothed with a cloud (10:1). This clothing, though, is not the result of an anxiety around nudity, but serves to situate the angel in nature, as can be seen in the remainder of the verse: a rainbow was upon his head, and his face was as it were the sun, and his feet as pillars of fire: [ ] and he set his right foot upon the sea, and his left foot on the earth (10:1-2). This overt use of natural imagery signifies the angel as being at one with nature and creation. Thus, the clothing of him is not in an attempt to hide his nakedness, but is merely a part of naturalising the supernatural image. The second biblical descri ption of clothed angels comes later in Revelation: And the seven angels came out of the temple, [ ] clothed in pure and white linen, and having their breasts girded with golden girdles (15:6). Again, this clothing is not in order to mask the angels nudity, but serves as a reflection of Christ s clothing at the beginning of the book: the Son of Man, clothed with a garment down to the foot, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle (1:13). The dress of the angels is a direct copy of Christ s costume, and in this way the angels are clothed in uniform, their clothes marking their allegiance to Jesus.

Angels dress is not at all mentioned throughout the rest of the Bible. In fact, it is deliberately unmentioned in passages concerning human clothing which signify the importance of clothing in general. This happens twice, in 1 Chronicles where David and the elders of Israel, who were clothed in sackcloth, fell upon their faces in the presence of the angel of the Lord (21:16), and in Zechariah, where Zechariah has a vision of Joshua standing before an angel in dirty clothes which the angel removes and replaces with new, clean clothes (3:3-4). This second passage explicitly highlights the importance and influence of clothing in scri pture, as Joshua s clothing is used as a metaphor for his power in leadership. However, clothing is exclusively a human concern. In both passages outlined above, angels are purposefully left unclothed because they have not fallen.

There is, however, an argument that angels are indeed fallen beings. Giovanni di Paolo s The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise (1445) (see figure 6) deliberately connects the angel to Adam and Eve in covering the genitals of the angel as well as the fallen humans. Dixon and Kirsch view the angel s alliance with Adam and Eve as proof of the angelic fall which also caused the fall of man (486) they argue: man was created to replace the fallen angels (485). However, I argue that not all angels are fallen, but only through nudity can true angelic purity be depicted. Our discomfort with naked angels is only evidence of our own fallenness, thus di Paolo attempts to cover his angel s genitals (see figure 7), making him fallen.

Figure 6. di Paolo, Giovanni. The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise. 1445. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

Figure 7. Detail. di Paolo, Giovanni. The Creation of the World and the Expulsion from Paradise. 1445. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art, New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Modern Art. Web. 10 Mar. 2013.

Anne Hollander historicises clothing in Seeing Through Clothes (1975), questioning the naturalness of nudity and arguing that clothing or self-adornment [is] a necessary sign of full humanity (83). She identifies the view of clothing as required to hide man s wretched original state, which had been perfect but became shameful after his fall (85). If we are to take this view, then surely angels as unfallen require no such covering. Nevertheless, the nudity of angels is repeatedly made an issue not only in their artistic, but also in their literary representations, and Milton is at the centre of this. Milton clothes his angels in various ways, thus creating a body-conscious representation, arguably sexualising angels as he alters biblical descri ptions in a direct attempt to avoid nudity. I will first return to the descri ption of Uriel in Book III in order to analyse Milton s self-conscious masking of angelic nudity: His back was turned, but not his brightness hid / Of beaming sunny rays, a golden triar / Circled his head, nor less his locks behind / Illustrious on his shoulders fledge with wings / Lay waving round (Book III lines 624-628). First, it is important to note that although his back was turned , his brightness was not hid , implying a natural radiance in angelic nudity. However, in first showing us Uriel s back with his locks and wings lay waving round , Milton avoids the potentially awkward frontal view of his angel. Furthermore, when he does turn to face Satan, we are given no account of his appearance from this angle.

The most significant clothing of an angel, though, comes in Raphael s descent in Book V, a passage unavoidably reminiscent of the descri ption of the seraphim in Isaiah 6. However, as Harold Fisch recognises in The Biblical Presence in Shakespeare, Milton and Blake (1999), there is a significant departure from the biblical source where the question of nudity does not arise (179). Fisch fails to expand on the implications of this change, whereas I argue that the main difference between the original passage in scri pture and Milton s version is the wing placement which poses the question of nudity identified by Fisch. In Isaiah, each one [of the seraphim] has six wings with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly (6:2). In Milton, on the other hand:

six wings he wore, to shade

His lineaments divine the pair that clad

Each shoulder broad, came mantling o er his breast

With regal ornament the middle pair

Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round

Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold

And colours dipped in heaven the third his feet

Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail

Sky-tinctured grain. (Book V lines 277-285)

Milton s use of the word wore instantly sets Raphael s wings as a form of clothing. The use of the wings to shade his lineaments divine does not necessarily differ from Isaiah, as the seraphim use their wings to cover their faces and feet in the presence of God. However, in Milton there is no mention of Raphael s face, and we can assume that this is uncovered. The lineaments in question here are the entire body it seems, including the loin area. Rather than using the middle pair of wings to fly, Raphael uses his wings on his feet, and so the two upper pairs of wings are disposed to cover his body in a clothing-like manner implied with the mention of girts and skirts. The very act of shad[ing] Raphael with his wings suggests there is something to shade, particularly about the loins, inescapably drawing attention to the angelic genitalia Milton attempts to cover. In deliberately re-writing Isaiah 6 Milton creates a consciousness around the body and, by extension, nudity of Raphael, consequently sexualising him, crucially changing the way we perceive the angel.

As Milton rewrites the Bible, Blake rewrites Milton, attempting to rectify the body-consciousness and consequential sexualisation created by Milton in clothing his angels. Blake finds Milton s deliberate disruption of the biblical angelic hierarchy, as mentioned in Angelic Form , highly problematic as it threatens to blur the line between human and angelic form. Therefore, in much of his work Blake portrays angels as entirely other-worldly. Seymour Howard s essay William Blake, The Antique, Nudity, and Nakedness (1982) discusses Blake s stance on nudity and clothing extensively. Howard writes that strong and conflicting attitudes toward complete nakedness characterise [Blake s] art, which is strongly centred in erotic symbolism (117). Whilst Blake s illustrations to Paradise Lost seem to contain Milton s body-consciousness and even a degree of anxiety around angelic nudity, I argue that he avoids, where possible, erotic symbolism in his visual depictions of angels, creating angels that are overtly fantastical in order to make up for Milton s sexualised angels, thus reforming angels as unearthly.

Figure 8. Blake, William. Satan Spying on Adam and Eve and Raphael s Descent into Paradise. 1807. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino. Blake Archive. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

It is perhaps prudent to first observe Blake s illustration of Raphael s descent into Eden (see figure 8). Here we see Raphael coming down on a cloud, looking up to heaven and, most importantly, deliberately covering not only his genitals, but his nipples. However, despite this obvious nudity-awareness, Blake s Raphael is far more in line with the seraphim in Isaiah than Milton s: Blake does not rearrange the seraphim wings as Milton does, yet manages to use them to clothe Raphael s lineaments also. Blake does, however, seem to become increasingly comfortable with the nudity of his angels, the shift of which can be seen in comparing his subsequent versions of The Expulsion (1807 and 1808) (see figures 9 and 10). The main difference between these plates is the degree of nudity with which the three predominant characters are portrayed. As Pamela Dunbar states in her 1980 William Blake s Illustrations to the Poetry of Milton: the Boston [second] series are Michelangelesque nudes with a commanding physical presence (35), thus drawing more attention to the body itself with an underlying confidence. Interestingly, Adam and Eve s gaze is averted from heaven to the ground their eyes fixed on the serpent just as their fig leaf clothing diminishes between the earlier and later illustrations, suggesting some correlation. My focus, though, is on the Archangel Michael. The half-cloak covering Michael s chest seems entirely superfluous in both illustrations yet becomes more transparent in the second plate. About the groin, though, the second plate is far more pronounced and although the angel is still seemingly penis-less, the feather-shaped etchings around the hips and the tops of his thighs are far more representative of genitalia than the general blurriness we see in the 1807 version. In this way Blake seems to grow increasingly comfortable with angelic nudity, actively altering his illustrations to lessen the amount of clothing.

Seymour describes Blake s dealings with nudity as inconsistent and suggests that this is linked with his efforts to deal with sexual and other polarities in an ideal universe of his own making (117). However, I argue that Blake s attitude to nudity is decidedly romanticised. As Seymour notes, Blake claims that Art can never exist without Naked Beauty displayed (Laocoon qtd. by Seymour 121). Thus, as Blake recognises the true beauty of nudity and grows comfortable with his own portrayal of angelic nudity, we can reason that angels, in accordance with my own view, ought to be depicted nude.

Figure 9. Blake, William. The Expulsion. 1807. Henry E. Huntington Library and Art Gallery, San Marino. Blake Archive. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

Figure 10. Blake, William. The Expulsion. 1808. Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. Blake Archive. Web. 3 Apr. 2013.

Thus far this chapter has discussed how the nudity of angels is dealt with in the works of Milton and Blake. I have argued that in order to accurately capture the divinity of angels, they should be depicted in their natural state: nude. I have also examined the way human fallenness affects the representation of angels, casting them in a postlapsarian light in order for humans to understand them. However, the issue at hand is not simply about nudity and masked nudity clothing as an element must also be considered. In clothing angels, the writer or artist is not solely hiding the body, but anchoring the angel to our material world in a far more direct way. Clara Erskine Clement discusses how clothing is used in artistic representations of angels, stating that they are robed, and represented in accordance with the work in which they are engaged (31). Guido Reni s The Archangel Michael defeating Satan (see figure 11) depicts Michael in Roman-style armour which lacks any degree of structural integrity. Thus, the occupational dress is purely symbolic, and not at all practical perhaps Reni has enough faith in God s protection to assume that his angels need only weapons and no defensive material. This occupational depiction, though, tends to be more in accessories rather than clothing. For example, Langmuir acknowledges the presence of musical instruments in many paintings as a way of representing angels in worship (16).

In the apparent absence of any functionality other than to cover the body and perhaps symbolise occupation, angelic clothing can be useful in determining hierarchy, giving the artist an opportunity to distinguish between different types of angel without a necessity to alter the actual body. Clement highlights the importance of colour in angelic hierarchy: One of the most important elements in the proper painting of seraphs and cherubs was the use of colour [ ]. In a Glory, for example, the inner circle should be glowing red, the symbol of love the second, blue, the emblem of light, which again symbolises knowledge (26-27). This colour differentiation can be seen in Seraphim, Cherubim and Adoring Angels (see figure 12), where the different types of angel listed in the name of the painting are grouped and represented according to the colour of their dress with no other physical difference to be found. In this way, clothing enables the artist to represent hierarchy through colour as well as dress or costume. Thus, clothing makes angels appear more tangible to us in our human world, familiarising them and creating markers by which we can judge their profession and rank.

Figure 11. Reni, Guido. The Archangel Michael defeating Satan. 1635. Private Collection. WikiPaintings. Web. 13 Apr. 2013.

Figure 12. Attributed to Jacopo di Ciote and workshop. Seraphim, Cherubim and Adoring Angels. 1370-1371. The National Gallery, London. A Closer Look: Angels. By Erika Langmuir. 40. Print.

The history of dress is central in terms of understanding angelic gender, a topic which I will discuss in detail in the following chapter. Angels are generally depicted in dresses, in keeping with the Revelation 15 descri ption already discussed. However, as masculine fashion has moved away from skirts and dresses to trousers, angels have remained in dress. Hollander argues that The shift in the look of clothing during any period [is] primarily based on visual impulse [ ]. Consequently, it is [ ] the representational artist [ ] who also engenders the need to change the look (350). Whilst Hollander suggests that changes in fashion start with the artist or image, I argue that angelic representations are understood according to fashion. Thus the masculine origin of the angel becomes feminised in the traditional angelic dress as it contrasts to the masculine fashion of the time. Furthermore, as the male body is covered by clothing in an attempt to mask nudity and sexuality, the penis is hidden by the feminised dress.

This chapter has assessed angelic representation in terms of nudity and clothing, arguing that angels are made fallen by human depiction. Beyond biblical descri ptions, a consciousness is created around angelic nudity and angels are covered in an attempt to preserve their modesty and innocence. This does no more than re-enforce human fallenness, however, as angels are capable of being entirely innocent in their natural, nude state. Humans project their own fallenness onto their representations of angels in their inability to truly comprehend pure divinity. The use of clothing further materialises angels, anchoring them to the material world which is all we know. Thus, angels cannot be truly represented, as it is impossible to depict an innocent in a postlapsarian world.

Age and Gender

Representations of angelic age and gender have changed significantly over time, and I argue that the Victorian period is the pivotal point in altering our perceptions of angels from grown men to young, androgynous women, a change that is borne out of a need to idealise angels and remove any threat of sexuality. I must state here that I am not including cupid-like baby cherubs in this study. The roots of this elected angelic age are almost exclusively Classical, whereas I am focusing on the re-writing and visual representation of angels for which the Bible is the original source. This chapter will largely rest in the nineteenth century, assessing the effect of attitudes to women and children on angelic representation. As the idealisation of women and children create angels as childlike or feminine, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood responds to this, recreating angels as androgynous in order to avoid angelic sexuality, yet maintaining the image of the idealised child angel.

Idealised women as angels took flight with the 1854 publishing of Coventry Patmore s Angel in the House , altering the previous view of angels as androgynous, noted by Raymond: After the twelfth and thirteenth centuries angels were consistently represented as androgynous (78). Pre-Raphaelite painter Arthur Hughes s The Nativity (1858) (see figure 13), presents angels as undeniably feminine, typical of the mid-Victorian period following the publication of Patmore s best-selling poem. However, the notion of feminine angels is problematic in terms of presenting angels as sexualised. Novels such as Bram Stoker s Dracula (1897) exhibit the Victorian fear of the sexualised supernatural. In order to avoid this feminised angelic sexuality, Pre-Raphaelite painting shows a move away from female angels, representing a safer, androgynous image. Along with this fear of sexuality comes an idealisation of childhood, formed explicitly during the Victorian period, notably present in fin de si cle novels such as Oscar Wilde s The Picture of Dorian Gray (1890). Anne Ludin coins the term: the cult of the child in her 2009 review of Ann Alston s The Family in English Children s Literature (2008) and Elizabeth Thiel s The Fantasy of Family (2011), stating that in the nineteenth century the child was no longer a miniature of the adult but a distinct being (246). The idealised child spurred the representation of angels as children, as seen in Marianne Stokes Angels Entertaining the Holy Child (1893) (see figure 14), evidently continuing throughout the century. In this way, the nineteenth century shift in attitudes to both children and women changed angelic ideas in turn.

Figure 13. Hughes, Arthur. The Nativity. 1858. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, Birmingham. Painting the Bible: Representation and Belief in Mid-Victorian Britain. By Michaela Giebelhausen. Print.

Figure 14. Stokes, Marianne. Angels Entertaining the Holy Child. 1893. Private Collection. ArtMagick. Web. 30 Apr. 2013.


It is important to first understand the biblical stance on angelic age and gender. It is largely understood that biblical angels are male indeed, the named archangels Gabriel and Michael are inarguably male, and I have already identified angels appearing as men. Angelic representations become androgynous, however, in an attempt to remove sexuality which results in the removal of gender. This takes place with the deliberate covering of angelic genitalia, as discussed in the previous chapter, which not only masks gender but actively depletes it. There is nothing in the Bible that determines the age of angels. In terms of representing angels, this poses a problem as there is no marker for the age at which they appear. Thus, angels are represented according to the human ideal, and youthful or childlike seems most fitting.

Pre-Raphaelite poetry and painting is of crucial significance when considering our modern-day perception of angels. Indeed, in his blog post Jane Burden: How a Pre-Raphaelite model changed our image of angels (2005), Roger Homan argues that just one Pre-Raphaelite model (Jane Burden) has entirely shaped our image of angels. Pre-Raphaelite art is particularly central to my argument, however, due to the focus on the body, a preoccupation recognised by J. B. Bullen in The Pre-Raphaelite Body (1998), stating that Pre-Raphaelitism was staged around the [ ] visual representation of the human body (1-2) and adopt[ed] a fresh and vigorous approach to traditional [religious] subject-matter (3). va P teri acknowledges the current popularity of the Pre-Raphaelites in 2003, stating that publications on the history of the movement and on the life of some of its representatives are abundant (7). Indeed, this popularity has only increased in the last decade and is likely to continue following the Tate Britain s Pre-Raphaelites: Victorian Avant-Garde exhibition which closed in January this year. However, P teri identifies a lack of studies dealing with special aspects (7 my emphasis), attempting to begin to fill the void with her study. I extend P teri s narrative by dealing specifically with the Pre-Raphaelite treatment of angels within their religious works.

It is perhaps telling that there is a great deal of Pre-Raphaelite visual artistic representation of angels in comparison to very little poetry. This imbalance clearly highlights angels as a visual phenomenon during the Victorian period thus supporting my claim that angelic physiognomy is the leading element in our understanding of the role of angels as a whole. Having said this, angels do appear in poetry in relation to women, very much in keeping with the angel in the house ideal characteristic of the time. In looking at Dante Gabriel Rossetti s The Blessed Damozel poem and painting and Christina Rossetti s poem In Progress , I will identify the physical turning of the idealised woman into an angel and deconstruct this association, arguing that distance is consciously created between the earthly and the unearthly in an attempt to remove sexuality from the angelic woman. I will then go on to engage with Homan s argument concerning Jane Burden, arguing that it is the androgyny of her and other notable models that creates an alternative Pre-Raphaelite ideal. Following this, I will examine Pre-Raphaelite attitudes towards age in their angelic representations in Rossetti s The Girlhood of Mary Virgin and accompanying poems, Ford Madox Brown s The Seraph s Watch and Rossetti s copy: Cherub Angels Watching the Crown of Thorns, arguing that Pre-Raphaelite child angels capture and cement the Victorian ideal.

Perhaps the most famous poetic Pre-Raphaelite reference to angels is in Christina Rossetti s In an Artist s Studio (1856) where we are presented with stereotypical metaphors for the ideal woman: queen , saint , angel (lines 5-7). This angelic mention does no more than to idealise the woman in question as supernatural in her loveliness (line 4). That is to say, we are given no sense of the angelic body, or even of what makes the subject specifically angelic in character or appearance, suggesting that naming woman angel has no real significance angel itself is not effeminised as a result.

In Progress (published posthumously), however, portrays a far stronger connection between the female subject and the notion of her as an angel. The very title of the poem suggests the transition from life to the metaphorical after-life (or angelic life) is progressive, instantly placing the angelic being higher than the human. As the poem progresses, so does the list of idealised feminine attributes: calm , self-remembrance , silent , patient (lines 2-10). It is only once these qualities have been realised that the subject may become angelic, and even then it is only a fancy (line 12). However, in reading this poem as satirical, Rossetti is ridiculing the angel in the house image. The sonnet frame of the poem in fourteen lines of iambic pentameter sets up the poetical structure, much like the marital structure here described. The irregular rhyme scheme, however, promptly destabilises and undermines this structure. Rossetti s reference to Dante Gabriel Rossetti s The Blessed Damozel : Her head shoot forth seven stars (line 13) further ridicules the image of the angelic female, satirising her brother s poem in turn. The use of the words shoot forth in reference to the stars as well as her eyes lightnings and her shoulders wings (line 14) at once conjures and mocks the image of a broken woman sprouting angelic features, tamed by the tyranny of her husband. Thus, in order to reach the angelic ideal, the woman must die to herself as is suggested in the eighth line of the poem: Gravely monotonous like a passing bell , becoming subject completely to her husband.

Dante Gabriel Rossetti s poem The Blessed Damozel (1850) presents a recently deceased woman as an angel, longing for her earthly lover. The damozel here represented is clearly idealised in death, with three lilies in her hand (line 5), yet is alive with blooming imagery of fertility: a white rose of Mary s gift (line 9) and hair [ ] yellow like ripe corn (lines 11-12), evidently to have died during her prime. Furthermore, the nameless woman becomes increasingly sexualised throughout the poem. In the second stanza we learn that Her robe [is] ungirt from clasp to hem (line 13), and in the fourth stanza her lover imagines her leaning over him, her hair / Fell about my face (lines 21-22). Moreover, her bosom must have made / The bar she leaned on warm (lines 45-46), and she is surrounded by pairs of lovers, one of the predominant features of Rossetti s illustration of the poem (1871) (see figure 15).

As much underlying sexual suggestion as there may be, the damsel-angel is given very little bodily descri ption. We are told of her hair running down her back, but nothing of the back itself. Likewise, we are told that her dress has become unclasped, but are given no idea as to why or any hint of her body beneath, and Rossetti s later painting depicts the damsel with drapery across her chest on top of her dress. In terms of the surrounding lovers, I argue that they serve to contrast the lonesome subject. Furthermore, we are given the impression that the damsel is still sexually innocent as her lover says: shall God lift / To endless unity / The soul whose likeness with thy soul / Was but its love for thee? (lines 99-102), suggesting that this unity has not yet happened. Indeed, when we are given a concrete sense of the subject s earthly passions: Only to live as once on earth / With Love (lines 129-130), her separation from her lover becomes no longer speculative but is truly realised: soon their path / Was vague in distant spheres (lines 139-140). The woman is forced from hanging over the gold bar of heaven (line 2) in desire to escape, to cast[ing] her arms along / The golden barriers (line 141-142) in desperation, weeping with the realisation of her loss (line 144). Thus, as the new angel becomes sexualised, she is punished as the physical separation between heaven and earth turns from a bar into barriers , imprisoning the sexualised angel. Not only does this punishment suggest a fear of angelic sexuality, but the previously mentioned lack of bodily descri ption suggests a desire to avoid it.

In The Blessed Damozel painting there is more evidence of Rossetti s apparent discomfort at sexualising his angel. Although the lower section depicting the male lover wasn t added to the painting until 1877, there is still a great deal to consider in the composition of the finished painting. Whilst the male lover lies on his back, eyes focused intently on the damsel, her face is positioned so that she might look down and return his gaze, but her eyes are focused elsewhere, seemingly on nothing, much like the three angelic figures below her. The positioning of these angels is noteworthy in itself as they physically separate the lovers. Thus, the angelic role physically and metaphorically separates the woman from her lover. This sense of angelic responsibility as an imprisoning force can be seen in the poem, too, as the woman becomes One of God s choristers (line 14), where a single day Had counted as ten years (lines 17-18). It can also be said that, in initially removing the male from the narrative of the painting, Rossetti consequently removes any chance of sexuality from the image. When the man is added, it is he that creates sexuality through his gaze, further drawing the sexuality away from the angelic figure.

Figure 15. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. The Blessed Damozel. 1871. Lady Lever Art Gallery, Liverpool. Wikipaintings. Web. 18 Apr. 2013.

It is no secret that Pre-Raphaelite painters preferred a particular style or look of model. Roger Homan writes that Jane Burden s features were rendered androgynous as the prototype angel in English religious art of the late Victorian period , thus arguing that Pre-Raphaelite painting reformed angelic representation to idealise androgyny. However, Jane Burden was not the only Pre-Raphaelite model to challenge the existing gender confines found in angelic art. Alexa Wilding is the main subject in The Blessed Damozel, and she carries the typical features of Pre-Raphaelite models: strong, sharp nose, heavy jawline and a prominent, shapely mouth. These heavy features are hardly in keeping with the idealised image of feminine beauty of the day, and Bullen notes the different perceptions of different models: In the eyes of most critics it was not simply that Pre-Raphaelite physiognomy and body language were unidealised they were seen as positively and definitely nasty (11). The Blessed Damozel, however, seems to depict both the contemporary perception of feminine beauty and the Pre-Raphaelite alternative Alexa Wilding represents the alternative, more masculine beauty, whereas the three angels beneath her are far more feminine with their golden hair, slender faces and small noses. As Homan states: Before Jane Burden [and other Pre-Raphaelite models], there were very few brunettes in the celestial sphere[. The] world was accustomed to idealized types and not ready for [such] striking character . Bullen suggests that Rossetti would be aware of the different styles of beauty here presented, as the new [Pre-Raphaelite] painting seemed to [ ] question the distinction between male and female, between masculinity and femininity (150). I argue that it is precisely the androgyny of the masculinised women (219) that appeals to the Pre-Raphaelites, particularly in relation to angelic representations, as the models androgyny allows the artist to create angels that hold no threat of sexuality.

Just as androgynous angels remove gender and, by extension, sexuality, child angels inhibit any sense of the sexualised angel. Langmuir notes: angels appear in various forms: as adolescents, youths or chubby infants , but recognises one overarching norm: They are usually thought to be sexless (20). Whilst Langmuir here refers to angelic gender, the issue of child angels and sexuality is central to understanding why youth is preferred in this context. Childhood is idealised and angels are represented as such in an attempt to portray angelic innocence. In a postlapsarian world, we are incapable of representing true virtue and are forced to revert to symbols to represent the purity we believe angels deserve. Hence, the child becomes a symbol for angelic innocence.

Figure 16. Brown, Ford Madox. The Seraph`s Watch. 1847. Private Collection. The History Blog. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.

Figure 17. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. Cherub Angels Watching the Crown of Thorns. Uncompleted. Private Collection. The History Blog. Web. 19 Apr. 2013.

Ford Madox Brown s lost and retrieved The Seraph s Watch (1847) (see figure 16) depicts two child angels adoring Christ s crown of thorns. The fact that Brown names his angels seraphs is crucial, distinctly marking these child angels not as cherubim constructed in relation to the Classical image of Cupid. In this sense, the angels age seems more important and it is precisely this deliberate representation of angels as children that communicates the innocent adoration of Christ. Indeed, the Pre-Raphaelite fascination with childhood is such that Rossetti, after first seeing the painting, wrote to Brown asking to study beneath him, during which time he began a copy of his painting, Cherub Angels Watching the Crown of Thorns (see figure 17), which was never completed ( Lost Madox Brown angels on display after 115 years ). The composition of Brown s painting is entirely dependent on children as its subject. The painting holds a strong motif of circles, perhaps representing the cyclical resurrection/ascension process, or the eternality of Christ s love and life. Regardless, the circle is repeated throughout the painting, from the crown of thorns and the halos to the head garment sported by the angel in the foreground as well the pattern on his/her clothing and the shape of the neckline. Christ s crown is physically larger than both the halos and the head garment, only possible due to the childish proportions of the angels, setting Jesus as the main subject of the painting even in his bodily absence. In this way, Brown s child angels serve so as not to undermine the symbol of Christ.

Rossetti s most famous representation of an angel child is in The Girlhood of Mary Virgin (1848-1849), Rossetti s first completed oil painting (see figure 18). In the second of his accompanying sonnets, Rossetti explains much of the religious symbolism depicted. Unmentioned, though, is the child angel. However, the poem names the lily standing on the books as Innocence, being interpreted (line 8). The child angel in the image is watering the lily, helping it grow, therefore the child not only embodies innocence in their young form but enacts the nurturing of Innocence .


Figure 18. Rossetti, Dante Gabriel. The Girlhood of Mary Virgin. 1848-1849. London, Tate Britain. Victorian Approaches to Religion as Reflected in the Art of the Pre-Raphaelites. By va P teri. 23. Print.

This chapter has assessed the use of age and gender in Pre-Raphaelite representations of angels. Pre-Raphaelite angelic constructions are the foundations of angelic ideas and ideals today, and I have discussed how these foundations are formed as a response to Victorian attitudes to age and gender. Whilst the nineteenth century idealised women as domestic angels, the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood championed the androgynous angel so as to displace angelic sexuality. In terms of age, there was a growing idealisation of childhood throughout the century, which came to the fore in the 1890s along with the anxiety surrounding the fin de si cle. Pre-Raphaelite angelic representations reflect this idealisation, using child angels as a symbol for innocence. Essentially, despite the theme of sexuality surrounding the art of the Brotherhood, the Pre-Raphaelites demonstrate a reluctance to represent angels in this way. Therefore, they reinforce the androgynous angel as a means of escaping gendered feminine sexuality, and depict angels as children in order to remove any threat of sexuality, thus creating an entirely innocent, genderless being.

Conclusion

This study has assessed angelic representation throughout the Early Modern and Victorian periods, focusing in particular on the works of Milton, Blake, and the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. I have argued that angels are understood foremost in terms of their physiognomy, accounting for repeated angelic representations, situating angels as a visual phenomenon. In this process, human representations of biblical angels have made them fallen since we are incapable of depicting true angelic divinity, angels have become sexualised and altered physically in an impossible attempt to avoid this sexuality. Through Early Modern and Victorian recreations, our modern-day perception of angels has been informed and determined according to the avoidance of sexuality in relation to nudity and clothing, and age and gender.

As angels have become popularised, as noted in the introduction, there are countless modern angelic representations. I have chosen two of the more famous representations from my own childhood in which to assess the effects of Milton, Blake, and Pre-Raphaelite art: David Almond s 1998 children s novel Skellig, and Kevin Smith s 1999 film Dogma, both of which deal with the difficulty in representing the angelic form. Skellig describes himself as something like an angel (Almond 131), thus highlighting the inconsistent meaning of the term angel . In support of my argument that angels are understood physically, it is upon first feeling Skellig s wings that Michael begins to realise what he might be (25). Furthermore, Skellig seems to define himself according to the angelic signifier of his wings when asked what s on his back, he replies: A jacket, then a bit of me, then lots and lots of Arthur [arthritis] (25). Mina s obsession with William Blake, though, is inarguably the biggest indicator for the early angelic representational influences on the story, and Blake s own dealings with angels are mentioned explicitly: He saw angels in his garden (48). In this way, Almond s novel and the angelic representations within have been shaped by Blake s initial visualisation and physicalizing of Milton s angels.

Dogma s angelic representations are multiple and complex, but Bethany (Linda Fiorentino) and Metatron s (Alan Rickman) first meeting illustrates perfectly the angelic androgyny that has been cemented in response to a fear of angelic sexuality Metatron reveals that angels are ill equipped (Dogma), going on to display his absence of genitalia (see figure 19). This response to Bethany s plea not to be raped deliberately castrates the angel, removing any sexual threat. Whilst Metatron is clearly male, his manhood is removed, reminiscent of the Pre-Raphaelite need to create androgynous angels.

Figure 19. Metatron naked. Kevin Smith. Dogma. 1999. Film Still. DVD.


Early Modern and Victorian angelic representations are echoed in modern-day representations. The focus on angelic physicality is still crucial, as well as the need to remove sexuality. In this way, angelic ideals have little changed, cemented by Pre-Raphaelite depictions and Blake s responses to Milton s rewriting of the Bible. Angels as visual constructs are stronger than ever in the hyper-visual culture which now presides, emphasising the material and thus decreasing our understanding of angels in any way other than visual. Due to human obsession with angelic physiognomy, the angel has been made fallen.

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