Angels

[poliphilo]

"What sex is an angel?" asks pondhopper. Well, neither, obviously. An angel is a spirit and spirits are genderless. For the purpose of communicating with humankind they may assume a gender- or allow us to impose one on them- but in their own element they're neither one thing nor the other.

I went looking for pictures of angels. Most artists get it. Most pictures of angels- from medieval wall paintings to renaissance altarpieces to Russian icons- have angels who are superbly androgyne. Only in the 20th century- with the tradition broken and artists all at sea- do you get the odd, obviously gendered angel- either curvaceously feminine, or rippingly male. I don't like these gendered angels. They're wrong. There are things higher and holier than sex- and angels, dropping down into this lower realm to the sound of rebecks and viols, remind us of this. Their beauty- as the best artists have laboured to realise- is a beauty of the beyond. 



The Archangel Michael: Rogier Van Der Weyden.

Comments

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

My question was more rhetorical than anything and was in reference to the fact that arguing the sex of angels is a useless discussion. There is a saying in Spanish that refers to that, in fact. "Es como discutir el sexo de los angeles" referring to a pointless argument. I was more amused by the fact that there were obvious gender traits assigned to some of those figures present in our Holy Week celebration, especially amongst the cherubs (or baby angels as we call them in Spanish). You are right, of course, and I, too, went looking for angels in art and until the 19th century they are quite androgynous. It was during Victorian times that a feminization occurred in many instances, especially in Victorian Christmas greetings.

The angels in my post are 19th century carvings, by the way. I think I will be on the lookout next year during Holy Week and document all the angel figures, and embroideries I see. I've only now, after 30 years, begun to see some of the details in the Seville Holy Week art.

Marvelous painting, isn't it.
:)

[poliphilo.livejournal.com]

Baby angels are funny things. There doesn't seem to be any theological justification for them. Are they meant to be the spirits of departed infants or what? I don't think they occur much in art before the Counter Reformation.

I love late medieval Flemish painting.

[pondhopper.livejournal.com]

Hmmm....another interesting bit of research. I'll have to check into the baby angel timeline. You're probably right. If they were the spirits of departed infants, in the Catholic Church they would have been baptized departed infants since until recently (last year!) the unbaptized departed babies did not go to heaven.

I'm quite fond of late medieval Flemish painting, too.