Angel

Opaque glass mosaic, designed by William Blake Richmond, executed using material produced by Messrs Powell of Whitefriars, completed by 1896



This mosaic is one of a group of twelve nearly identical depictions of six-winged angels. Only the inscriptions differ from mosaic to mosaic. They are quotations from Psalm 104 and the Book of Isaiah, Chapter 9.

The word angel derives from the Greek ‘angelos’, messenger. Accordingly, the heavenly messengers are shown here with arms wide open above their heads with palms facing the viewer. This so-called ‘orans (or Orant) gesture’, which also symbolises Christ on the cross, was adopted for prayer from early Christianity, and is still part of Christian liturgy today. It is also the gesture which was chosen for many figures depicted on Byzantine mosaics, for example at S. Apollinare in Classe on the outskirts of Ravenna, Italy.

The angels populating the mosaics of the pendentives of the three central bays of the quire, reflect therefore a tradition going back to the very beginning of Christianity. This reference goes beyond the adoption of the traditional gesture, and includes the golden background as a direct reference to Christian wall mosaics made in Byzantine times. The four pendentives of the central dome of Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, also show six-winged angels (which consist of wings and faces, but have no body as such). In the context of the creation of the mosaics of St Paul’s Cathedral at the end of the nineteenth-century, it is particularly interesting to note that the two eastern angels of the Hagia Sophia were restored in the mid-nineteenth century, while the other two were reconstructed in fresco at the time. Hence the Byzantine angels might well have served as inspiration for the twelve pendentive angels at St Paul’s Cathedral.



Brief description: spandrel mosaic depicting a seraph with six wings as young male figure with dark short hair, standing on clouds, with arms raised above his head, in a white full-length tunic inspired by ancient dress with a feathered breast piece and a pink ribbon, the blue outer pair of wings open, the two inner pairs red and close to the body; with golden background changing to black at the bottom tip of the spandrel; inscription above the head and to both sides of the angel: “LAVDATE DOMINVM OMNES ANGELI EIVS LAVDATE ET SOL / ET / LVNA”



Related quotes: “alleluia laudate Dominum de caelis laudate eum in excelsis / laudate eum omnes angeli eius laudate eum omnes virtutes eius / laudate eum sol et luna” (Latin Vulgate, Psalm 148:1-3); “Praise the LORD! Praise the LORD from the heavens, praise him in the heights! Praise him, all his angels, praise him, all his host! Praise him, sun and moon!” (NRSV, Psalm 148:1-3)



Related work elsewhere: Sant’ Apollinare, apse mosaic, S. Apollinare in Classe/Ravenna, Italy, 6th century AD; pendentive angels, mosaics, Hagia Sophia, Istanbul, prob. in current version a 14th-century restoration of earlier work, restored once more in the 1840s

Literature and references: Bieritz 2004, p. 224.