St. Gabriel.

39 St. Michael as Angel of Judgment and Lord of Souls (Justus of Ghent)

In those devotional pictures which exhibit St. Michael as Lord of souls, he is winged and unarmed, and holds the balance. In each scale sits a little naked figure, representing a human soul; one of these is usually represented with hands joined as in thankfulness—he is thebeato, the elected; the other is in an attitude of horror—he is the rejected, the reprobate; and often, but not necessarily, the idea is completed by the introduction of a demon, who is grasping at the descending scale, either with his talons, or with the long two-pronged hook, such as is given to Pluto in the antique sculpture.

Sometimes St. Michael is thus represented singly; sometimes very beautifully in Madonna pictures, as in a picture by Leonardo da Vinci (A.D.1498), where St. Michael, a graceful angelic figure, with lightflowing hair, kneels before the Madonna, and presents the balance to the Infant, who seems to welcome the pious little soul who sits in the uppermost scale.

40 St. Michael (Signorelli, 1500. In the San Gregorio, Rome)

I have seen this idea varied. St. Michael stands majestic with the balance poised in his hands: instead of a human figure in either scale, there are weights; on one side is seen a company of five or six little naked shivering souls, as if waiting for their doom; on the other several demons, one of whom with his hook is pulling down the ascending scale.[77]With or without the balance, St. Michael figures as Lord of souls when introduced into pictures of the Assumption or the Glorification of the Virgin. To understand the whole beauty and propriety of such representations, we must remember, that according to one of thelegends of the death of the Virgin her spirit was consigned to the care of St. Michael until it was permitted to reanimate the spotless form, and with it ascend to heaven.

In one or two instances only, I have seen St. Michael without wings. In general, an armed figure, unwinged and standing on a dragon, we may presume to be a St. George; but where the balance is introduced, it leaves no doubt of the personality—it is a St. Michael. Occasionally the two characters—the protecting Angel of light and the Angel of judgment—are united, and we see St. Michael, with the dragon under his feet and the balance in his hand. This was a favourite and appropriate subject on tombs and chapels dedicated to the dead; such is the beautiful bas-relief on the tomb of Henry VII. in Westminster Abbey.

In some representations of the last judgment, St. Michael, instead of the banner and cross, bears the scales; as in the very curious bas-relief on the façade of the church of St. Trophime at Arles. St. Michael here has a balance so large that it is almost as high as himself; it is not a mere emblem, but a fact; a soul sits in each scale, and a third is rising up; the angel holds out one hand to assist him. In another part of the same bas-relief St. Michael is seen carrying a human soul (represented as a little naked figure) and bringing it to St. Peter and St. Paul. In a celebrated Last Judgment, attributed by some authors to John Van Eyck, by others to Justus of Ghent, St. Michael is grandly introduced.[78]High up, in the centre, sits the Saviour, with the severe expression of the judge. Above him hover four angels with the instruments of the Passion, and below him three others sounding trumpets (v.p. 54),—I suppose the seven pre-eminent angels: the Virgin and St. John the Baptist on each side, and then the Apostles ranged in the usual manner. ‘In the lower half of the picture stands St. Michael, clad in golden armour, so bright as to reflect in the most complete manner all the surrounding objects. His figure is slender and elegant, but colossal as compared to the rest. He seems to be bending earnestly forward, a splendid purple mantle falls from his shoulders to the ground, and his large wings are composed of glittering peacock’s feathers. He holds the balance; the scale with the good rests on earth, but that with the souls which are found wanting mounts into air. A demon stands readyto receive them, and towards this scale St. Michael points with the end of a black staff which he holds in his right hand.’ This picture, which is a chef-d’œuvre of the early German school, is now in the church of St. Mary at Dantzig.

The historical subjects in which St. Michael is introduced exhibit him as prince of the Hebrew nation, and belong properly to the Old Testament.[79]‘After the confusion of tongues, and the scattering of the people, which occurred on the building of the Tower of Babel, every separate nation had an angel to direct it. To Michael was given in charge the people of the Lord. The Hebrews being carried away captive into the land of Assyria, Daniel prayed that they might be permitted to return when the seventy years of captivity were over: but the Angel of Persia opposed himself on this occasion to the angels Michael and Gabriel. He wished to retain the Jews in captivity, because he was glad to have, within the bounds of his jurisdiction, a people who served the true God, and because he hoped that in time the captive Jews would convert to the truth the Assyrians and Persians committed to his care.’ This curious passage from one of the early Christian fathers, representing the good angels as opposed to each other, and one of them as disputing the commands of God, is an instance of the confused ideas on the subject of angels which prevailed in the ancient Church, and which prevail, I imagine, in the minds of many even at this day.

In the story of Hagar in the wilderness, it is Michael who descends to her aid. In the sacrifice of Isaac, it is Michael who stays the arm of Abraham. It is Michael who brings the plagues on Egypt, and he it is who leads the Israelites through the wilderness. It was the belief of the Jews, and of some of the early Christian fathers, that through his angel (not in person) God spoke to Moses from the burning bush, and delivered to him the law on Mount Sinai; and that the angel so delegated was Michael.

It is Michael who combats with Lucifer for the body of Moses. (Jude v. 9.) According to one interpretation of this curious passageof Scripture, the demon wished to enter and to possess the form of Moses, in order to deceive the Jews by personating their leader; but others say, that Michael contended for the body, that he might bury it in an unknown place, lest the Jews should fall into the sin of paying divine honours to their legislator. This is a fine picturesque subject; the rocky desert, the body of Moses dead on the earth, the contest of the good and evil angel confronting each other,—these are grand materials! It must have been rarely treated, for I remember but one instance—the fresco by L. Signorelli, in the Sistine Chapel in the Vatican.

It is Michael who intercepts Balaam[80]when on his way to curse the people of Israel, and puts blessings into his mouth instead of curses: a subject often treated, but as a fact rather than a vision.

It is Michael who stands before Joshua in the plain by Jericho:—‘And Joshua said unto him, Art thou for us, or for our adversaries? And he said, Nay; but as captain of the host of the Lord am I now come. And Joshua fell on his face to the earth, and did worship, and said unto him, What saith my Lord unto his servant? And the captain of the Lord’s host said unto Joshua, Loose thy shoe from off thy foot; for the place whereon thou standest is holy.’ (Joshua v. 13-15.) This subject is very uncommon. In the Greek MS. already alluded to, I met with a magnificent example—magnificent in point of sentiment, though half ruined and effaced; the God-like bearing of the armed angel, looking down on the prostrate Joshua, is here as fine as possible.

It is Michael who appears to Gideon.[81]It is Michael who chastises David.[82]It is Michael who exterminates the army of Sennacherib; a subject magnificently painted by Rubens. (Some suppose that on this occasion God made use of the ministry of an evil angel.[83])

It is Michael who descends to deliver the Three Children from the burning fiery furnace. The Three Children in the furnace is a subject which appears very early in the catacombs and on the sarcophagi as a symbol of the Redemption;—so early, that it is described by Tertullian;[84]but in almost all the examples given there are three figuresonly: where there is a fourth, it is, of course, the protecting angel, but he is without wings.[85]

Michael seizes the prophet Habakkuk by the hair of the head, and carries him to Babylon, to the den of lions, that he may feed Daniel.[86]This apocryphal subject occurs on several sarcophagi.[87]I have seen it also in illuminated MSS., but cannot at this moment refer to it. It occurs in a series of late Flemish prints after Hemskirk,—of which there are good impressions in the British Museum.

The Archangel Michael is not named in the Gospels; but in the legends of the Madonna, as we shall see hereafter, he plays a very important part, being deputed by Christ to announce to his mother her approaching end, and to receive her soul. For the present I will only remark, that when, in accordance with this very ancient legend, an angel is represented kneeling before the Madonna, and holding in his hand a palm surmounted by stars, or a lighted taper, this angel is not Gabriel, announcing the conception of Christ, as is usually supposed, but Michael, as the angel of death.[88]

The legend of Monte Galgano I saw in a large fresco, in the Santa Croce at Florence, by a painter of the Giotto school; but in so bad a state, that I could only make out a bull on the top of a mountain, and a man shooting with a bow and arrow. On the opposite wall is the combat of Michael with the dragon—very spirited, and in much better preservation. To distinguish the apparition of St. Michael on Monte Galgano from the apparition on Mont St. Michel, in both of which a bull and a bishop are principal figures, it is necessary to observe, that, in the last-named subject, the sea is always introduced at the base of the picture, and that the former is most common in Italian, and the latter in French, works of art. In the French stained glass of the thirteenth and fourteenth centuries, St. Michael is a very popular subject, either with the dragon, or the scales, or both.

Lately, in removing the whitewash from the east wall of the nave ofPreston Church, near Brighton, was discovered the outline of a group of figures representing St. Michael, fully draped, and with large wings, bearing the balance; in each scale a human soul. The scale containing thebeatois assisted by a figure fully draped, but so ruined that it is not possible to say whether it represents the Virgin, or the guardian saint of the person who caused the fresco to be painted. I am told that in the old churches of Cornwall, and of the towns on the south coast, which had frequent intercourse with France, effigies of St. Michael occur frequently, both in painting and sculpture. On the old English coin, thence called anangel, we have the figure of St. Michael, who was one of the patron saints of our Norman kings.

I must now trust to the reader to contemplate the figures of St. Michael, so frequent and so varied in Art, with reference to these suggestions; and leaving for the present this radiant Spirit, this bright similitude of a primal and universal faith, we turn to his angelic companions.

41 Egyptian hieroglyphic of the Genius of Good overcoming Evil (v.p. 108)

Lat.Sanctus Gabriel.Ital.San Gabriello, San Gabriele, L’Angelo Annunziatore.Fr.St. Gabriel.

‘I amGabriel, that stand in the presence of God.’—Lukei. 19.

In those passages of Scripture where the Angel Gabriel is mentioned by name, he is brought before us in the character of a Messenger only, and always on important occasions. In the Old Testament he is sent to Daniel to announce the return of the Jews from captivity, and to explain the vision which prefigures the destinies of mighty empires. His contest with the Angel of the kingdom of Persia, when St. Michael comes to his assistance, would be a splendid subject in fit hands; I do not know that it has ever been painted. In the New Testament the mission of Gabriel is yet more sublime: he first appears to the high priest Zacharias, and foretells the birth of John the Baptist,—a subject which belongs especially to the life of that saint. Six months later, Gabriel is sent to announce the appearance of the Redeemer of mankind.[89]

In the Jewish tradition, Gabriel is the guardian of the celestial treasury. Hence, I presume, Milton has made him chief guardian of Paradise:—

Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night.

Betwixt these rocky pillars Gabriel sat,

Chief of the angelic guards, awaiting night.

As the Angel who announced the birth of Christ, he has been venerated as the Angel who presides over childbirth. He foretells the birth of Samson, and, in the apocryphal legends, he foretells to Joachim the birth of the Virgin. In the East, he is of great importance. Mahomet selected him as his immediate teacher and inspirer, and he became the great protecting angel of Islamism: hence between Michael, the protector of the Jews and Christians, and Gabriel, the protector ofthe Moslem, there is supposed to exist no friendly feeling—rather the reverse.

In the New Testament, Gabriel is a much more important personage than Michael; yet I have never met with any picture in which he figures singly as an object of worship. In devotional pictures he figures as the second of the three Archangels—‘Secondo fra i primi,’ as Tasso styles him; or in his peculiar character as the divine messenger of grace, ‘l’Angelo annunziatore.’ He then usually bears in one hand a lily or a sceptre; in the other a scroll on which is inscribed, ‘Ave Maria, Gratia plena!’[90]

The subject called theAnnunciationis one of the most frequent and most important, as it is one of the most beautiful, in the whole range of Christian Art. It belongs, however, to the history of the Virgin, where I shall have occasion to treat it at length; yet as the Angel Gabriel here assumes, by direct scriptural testimony, a distinct name and personality, and as the dignity and significance proper to a subject so often unworthily and perversely treated depend very much on the character and deportment given to the celestial messenger, I shall make a few observations in this place with respect to the treatment of the angel, only reserving the theme in its general bearing for future consideration.

In the early representations of the Annunciation it is treated as a religious mystery, and with a solemn simplicity and purity of feeling, which is very striking and graceful in itself, as well as in harmony with the peculiar manner of the divine revelation. The scene is generally a porch or portico of a temple-like building; the Virgin stands (she is very seldom seated, and then on a kind of raised throne); the angel stands before her, at some distance: very often, she is within the portico; he is without. Gabriel is a majestic being, generally robed in white, wearing the tunic and palliumà l’antique, his flowing hair bound by a jewelled tiara, with large many-coloured wings, and bearing the sceptre of sovereignty in the left hand, while the right is extended inthe act of benediction as well as salutation: ‘Hail! thou that art highly favoured! Blessed art thou among women!’ He is the principal figure: the attitude of the Virgin, with her drapery drawn over her head, her eyes drooping, and her hands folded on her bosom, is always expressive of the utmost submission and humility. So Dante introduces the image of the lowly Virgin receiving the angel as an illustration of the virtue of Humility:—

Ed avea in atto impressa esta favella‘Ecce ancilla Dei!’—

Ed avea in atto impressa esta favella

‘Ecce ancilla Dei!’—

and Flaxman has admirably embodied this idea, both in the lofty angel with outspread arms, and the kneeling Virgin. Sometimes the angel floats in, with his arms crossed over his bosom, but still with the air of a superior being, as in this beautiful figure after Lorenzo Monaco, from a picture in the Florence Gallery.

The two figures are not always in the same picture; it was a very general custom to place the Virgin and the Angel, the ‘Annunziata’ and the ‘Angelo annunziatore,’ one on each side of the altar, the place of the Virgin being usually to the right of the spectator; sometimes the figures are half-length: sometimes, when placed in the same picture, they are in two separate compartments, a pillar, or some other ornament, running up the picture between them; as in many old altar-pieces, where the two figures are placed above or on each side of the Nativity, or the Baptism, or the Marriage at Cana, or some other scene from the life and miracles of our Saviour. This subject does not appear on the sarcophagi; the earliest instance I have met with is in the mosaic series over the arch in front of the choir in the church of Santa Maria Maggiore, at Rome, executed in the fifth century. Here we have two successive moments represented together. In the first the angel is sent on his mission, and appears flying down from heaven; the earliest instance I have seen of an angel in the act of flight. In the second group the Virgin appears seated on a throne; two angels stand behind her, supposed to represent her guardian angels, and the angel Gabriel stands in front with one hand extended. The dresses are classical, and there is not a trace of the mediæval feeling, or style, in the whole composition.

In the Greek pictures, the Angel and the Virgin both stand; and in the Annunciation of Cimabue the Greek formula is strictly adhered to. I have seen pictures of the fourteenth and fifteenth centuries, in which Gabriel enters as a princely ambassador, with three little angels bearing up his mantle behind: in a picture in the collection of Prince Wallerstein, one meek and beautiful angel bears up the rich robes of the majestic archangel, like a page in the train of a sovereign prince. But from the beginning of the fourteenth century we perceive a change of feeling, as well as a change of style: the veneration paid to the Virgin demanded another treatment. She becomes not merely the principal person, but the superior being; she is the ‘Regina angelorum,’ and the angel bows to her, or kneels before her as to a queen.[91]Thus in thefamous altar-piece at Cologne, the angel kneels; he bears a sceptre, and also a sealed roll, as if he were a celestial ambassador delivering his credentials: about the same period we sometimes see the angel merely with his hands folded over his breast, and his head inclined, delivering his message as if to a superior being.

43 The Angel Gabriel (Wilhelm of Cologne. 1440)

I cannot decide at what period the lily first replaced the sceptre in the hand of the angel, not merely as the emblem of purity, but as the symbol of the Virgin from the verse in the Canticles usually applied toher: ‘I am the rose of Sharon, and the lily of the valley.’ A lily is often placed in a vase near the Virgin, or in the foreground of the picture: of all the attributes placed in the hand of the angel, the lily is the most usual and the most expressive.

The painters of Siena, who often displayed a new and original sentiment in the treatment of a subject, have represented the angel Gabriel as the announcer of ‘peace on earth;’ he kneels before the Virgin, crowned with olive, and bearing a branch of olive in his hand, as in a picture by Taddeo Bartoli. There is also a beautiful St. Gabriel by Martin Schoen, standing, and crowned with olive. So Dante—

L’ angel che venne in terra col decretoDella molt’ anni lagrimata pace.

L’ angel che venne in terra col decreto

Della molt’ anni lagrimata pace.

Another passage in Dante which the painters seem to have had before them shows us the Madonna as queen, and the angel as adoring:—

‘Qual è quel angel che con tanto giuocoGuarda negli occhi la nostra reginaInnamorato sì che par di fuoco?’Ed egli a me,—‘Baldezza e leggiadriaQuanta esser puote in angelo ed in almaTutta è in lui, e si volem che sia!’

‘Qual è quel angel che con tanto giuoco

Guarda negli occhi la nostra regina

Innamorato sì che par di fuoco?’

Ed egli a me,—‘Baldezza e leggiadria

Quanta esser puote in angelo ed in alma

Tutta è in lui, e si volem che sia!’

It is in seeking thisbaldezza e leggiadriain a mistaken sense that the later painters have forgotten all the spiritual dignity of the Angel Messenger.

Where the angel bears a lighted taper, which the Virgin extends her hand to take from him; or, kneeling, bears in his hand a palm-branch, surmounted by seven or twelve stars (44), the subject represented is not the announcement of the birth of the Saviour, but the death of the Virgin, a part of her legendary history which is rarely treated and easily mistaken; then the announcing angel is not Gabriel, but Michael.[92]

44 Angel announcing the death of the Virgin (F. Filippo Lippi)

In old German Art, the angel in the Annunciation is habited in priestly garments richly embroidered (42). The scene is often the bedroom of the Virgin; and while the announcing angel enters and kneels at the threshold of the door, the Holy Ghost enters at the window. I have seen examples in which Gabriel, entering at a door behind the Virgin, unfolds his official ‘Ave Maria.’ He has no lily, or sceptre, and she is apparently conscious of his presence without seeing him.[93]

But in the representations of the sixteenth century we find neither the solemnity of the early Italian nor the naïveté of the early German school; and this divine subject becomes more and more materialised and familiarised, until, losing its spiritual character, it strikes us as shockingly prosaic. One cannot say that the angel is invariably deficient in dignity, or the Virgin in grace. In the Venetian school and the Bologna school we find occasionally very beautiful Annunciations; but in general the half-draped fluttering angels and the girlish-looking Virgins are nothing less than offensive; and in the attempt tovary the sentiment, thenaturalistihave here run the risk of being muchtoonatural.

45 The Archangel Gabriel (Van Eyck)

In the Cathedral at Orvieto, the Annunciation is represented in front of the choir by two colossal statues by Francesco Mochi: to the right is the angel Gabriel, poised on a marble cloud, in an attitude so fantastic that he looks as if he were going to dance; on the other side stands the Virgin, conceived in a spirit how different!—yet not less mistaken; she has started from her throne; with one hand she grasps it, with the other she seems to guard her person against the intruder: majesty at once, and fear, a look of insulted dignity, are in the air and attitude,—‘par che minacci e tema nel tempo istesso’—but I thought of Mrs. Siddons while I looked, not of the Virgin Mary.

This fault of sentiment I saw reversed, but equally in the extreme, in another example—a beautiful miniature.[94]The Virgin, seated on theside of her bed, sinks back alarmed, almost fainting; the angel in a robe of crimson, with a white tunic, stands before her, half turning away and grasping his sceptre in his hand, with a proud commanding air, like a magnificent surly god—a Jupiter who had received a repulse.

I pass over other instances conceived in a taste even more blamable—Gabriels like smirking, winged lord chamberlains; and Virgins, half prim, half voluptuous—the sanctity and high solemnity of the event utterly lost. Let this suffice for the present: I may now leave the reader to his own feeling and discrimination.

Lat.Sanctus Raphael.Ital.San Raffaello.Fr.Saint Raphael.Ger.Der Heilige Rafael.‘I amRaphael, one of the Seven Holy Angels which present the prayers of the Saints, and which go in and out before the glory of theHoly One.’—Tobitxii. 15.

Lat.Sanctus Raphael.Ital.San Raffaello.Fr.Saint Raphael.Ger.Der Heilige Rafael.

‘I amRaphael, one of the Seven Holy Angels which present the prayers of the Saints, and which go in and out before the glory of theHoly One.’—Tobitxii. 15.

I have already alluded to the established belief, that every individual man, nay, every created being, hath a guardian angel deputed to watch over him:—‘Woe unto us, if, by our negligence or our self-will, we offend him on whose vigilance we depend for help and salvation! But the prince of guardian spirits, the guardian angel of all humanity, is Raphael; and in this character, according to the early Christians, he appeared to the shepherds by night ‘with good tidings of great joy, which shall be for all people.’ It is, however, from the beautiful Hebrew romance of Tobit that his attributes are gathered: he is the protector of the young and innocent, and he watches over the pilgrim and the wayfarer. The character imputed to him in the Jewish traditions has been retained and amplified by Milton: Raphael is the angel sent by God to warn Adam:—

..... The affable archangelRaphael; the sociable spirit that deign’dTo travel with Tobias, and securedHis marriage with the seven times wedded maid.

..... The affable archangel

Raphael; the sociable spirit that deign’d

To travel with Tobias, and secured

His marriage with the seven times wedded maid.

And the character of the angel is preserved throughout: his sympathywith the human race, his benignity, his eloquence, his mild and social converse. So when Adam blesses him:—

. . . .Since to part,Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger,Sent from whose sovereign goodness I adore!Gentle to me and affable hath beenThy condescension, and shall be honour’d everWith grateful memory. Thou to mankindBe good and friendly still, and oft return!

. . . .Since to part,

Go, heavenly guest, ethereal messenger,

Sent from whose sovereign goodness I adore!

Gentle to me and affable hath been

Thy condescension, and shall be honour’d ever

With grateful memory. Thou to mankind

Be good and friendly still, and oft return!

This character of benignity is stamped on all the best representations of Raphael, which, however, are not common: they occur principally in the chapels dedicated to the holy guardian angels; but there are also churches and chapels dedicated to him singly.

The devotional figures of Raphael exhibit him in the dress of a pilgrim or traveller, ‘his habit fit for speed succinct,’ sandals on his feet, his hair bound with a fillet or diadem, the staff in his hand, and sometimes a bottle of water or a wallet (panetière) slung to his belt. In this figure by Murillo (46), from one of the most beautiful pictures in the Leuchtenberg Gallery, Raphael is the guardian and guide of the votary who appears below—a bishop who probably bore the same name.[95]

Sometimes, as guardian spirit, he has a sword: the most beautiful example I could cite of this treatment is the figure in the Breviary of Anne of Bretagne (A.D.1500); he wears a pale-green tunic bordered with gold, and wings of a deep rose-colour; he has a casket or wallet slung over his shoulder by a golden belt; in one hand he holds a sword, and the other is raised with a warning gesture; his countenance, beautiful and benign as possible, yet says, ‘Take heed.’ More commonly, however, he carries a small casket, box, or vase, supposed to contain the ‘fishy charm’ against the evil spirits. (Tobit vi. 6, 7.)

Raphael, in his character of guardian angel, is generally represented as leading the youthful Tobias. When, in order to mark the difference between the celestial and the mortal being, Tobit is figured so small as to look like a child, and when the angel wears his spirit-wings, and is not disguised, the whole subject becomes idealised: it is no longer an historical action, but a devotional allegory; and Tobias with his fishrepresents the Christian, the believer, guarded and guided through his life-pilgrimage by the angelic monitor and minister of divine mercy.

46 St. Raphael (Murillo. Leuchtenberg Gallery)

There is a small side chapel in the church of Saint Euphemia, at Verona, dedicated to St. Raphael. The walls are painted with frescoes from the story of Tobit; and over the altar is that masterpiece of Carotto, representing the three archangels as three graceful spirit-like figures without wings. The altar being dedicated to Raphael, he is here the principal figure; he alone has the glory encircling his head, and takes precedence of the others; he stands in the centre leading Tobias, and looking down on him with an air of such saintly and benign protection, that one feels inclined to say or sing, in the words of thelitany, ‘Sancte Raphaël, adolescentium pudicitiæ defensor, ora pro nobis!’ Even more divine is the St. Michael who stands on the right, with one hand gathering up the folds of his crimson robe, the other leaning on his great two-handed sword; but such a head, such a countenance looking out upon us—so earnest, powerful, and serious!—we recognise the Lord of Souls, the Angel of Judgment. To the left of Raphael stands Gabriel, the Angel of Redemption; he holds the lily, and looks up to heaven adoring: this is the least expressive of the three heads, but still beautiful; and, on the whole, the picture left a stronger impression on my mind than any I had seen at Venice, the glorious Assumption excepted. The colouring in its glowing depth is like that of Giorgione. Vasari tells us, that this picture, painted when Carotto was young (aboutA.D.1495), was criticised because the limbs of the angels were too slender; to which Carotto, famous for his repartees, replied, ‘Then they will fly the better!’ The drawing, however, it must be conceded, is not the best part of the picture.

The earliest picture of Titian which remains to us is a St. Raphael leading Tobias;[96]beautiful, but not equal, certainly, to that of Carotto. Raphael, as we might naturally suppose, painted his guardian angel and patron saintcon amore:[97]we have by him two St. Raphaels; the first, a little figure executed when he was a boy in the studio of his master Perugino, is now on one side of an altar-piece in the Certosa at Pavia. Later in life, and in one of his finest works, he has introduced his patron saint with infinite beauty of feeling: in the Madonna della Pesce,[98]the Virgin sits upon her throne, with the Infant Christ in her arms; the angel Raphael presents Tobias, who is not here a youth but a child; while the Infant Christ turns away from the wise bearded old doctor, who is intently studying his great book, to welcome the angel and his charge. The head of the angel, looking up in the face of the Madonna, is in truth sublime: it would be impossible to determine whether it belongs to a masculine or a feminine being; but none could doubt that it is adivinebeing, filled with fervent, enthusiastic, adoring love. The fish in the hand of Tobias has given its name to the picture; and I may as well observe that in the devotional pictures, where thefish is merely an attribute, expressing Christian baptism, it is usually very small: in the story it is a sort of monster, which sprang out of the river and would have devoured him.

All the subjects in which the Archangel Raphael is an actor belong to the history of Tobit. The scenes of this beautiful scripturallegend—I must call it so—have been popular subjects of Art, particularly in the later schools, and have been admirably treated by some of the best Dutch and Flemish painters: the combination of the picturesque and poetical with the homely and domestic recommended it particularly to Rembrandt and his school. Tobias dragging the fish ashore, while the angel stands by, is a fine picturesque landscape subject which has been often repeated. The spirited little sketch by Salvator,[99]in which the figure of the guardian angel is admirable for power and animated grace; the twilight effect by Rembrandt;[100]another by Domenichino; three by Claude; may be cited as examples.

47 Archangel (Rembrandt)

In such pictures, as it has been rightly observed, the angel ought not to have wings: he is disguised as the friendly traveller. The dog, which ought to be omitted in the devotional pictures, is here a part of the story, and figures with great propriety.

Rembrandt painted the parting of Tobias and his parents four times; Tobias led by the angel, four times; Tobias healing his father, once; the departure of the angel, twice. Of this last subject, the picture in the Louvre may be pronounced one of his finest;—miraculous for true and spirited expression, and for the action of the soaring angel, who parts the clouds and strikes through the air like a strong swimmer through the waves of the sea (47).

The story of Tobit, as a series of subjects, has been very frequently represented, always in thegenreand picturesque style of the later schools. I shall have to return to it hereafter; here I have merely alluded to the devotional treatment, in order to direct attention to the proper character of the Archangel Raphael.

And thus we have shown

... how Holy ChurchDoth represent with human countenanceGabriel and Michaël, and him who madeTobias whole.—Dante,Par.c. iv.

... how Holy Church

Doth represent with human countenance

Gabriel and Michaël, and him who made

Tobias whole.—Dante,Par.c. iv.

1. In a picture by Gentile da Fabriano (Berlin Gallery, 1130), the Virgin and Child are enthroned, and on each side of the throne is a tree, on the branches of which are little red Seraphim winged and perched like birds, singing and making music. I remember also a little Dutch print of a Riposo (v.‘Legends of the Madonna,’ p. 256), in which five little angels are perched on the trees above, singing and playing for the solace of the divine Infant. Thus we have Dante’s idea of theUccelli di Dio, reproduced in a more familiar form.2. In the Convent of Sant-Angelo at Bologna, Camillo Procaccino painted the ‘Acts of the Holy Angels’ in the following order:—1. The Fall of the Dragon. 2. The Angels drive Adam and Eve from Paradise. 3. The three Angels visit Abraham. 4. The Angel stays the arm of Abraham. 5. The Angel wrestles with Jacob. 6. The Angels visit Jacob in a Dream. 7. The Angel delivers the three Children in the burning fiery Furnace. 8. The Angel slays the Host of Sennacherib. 9. The Angel protects Tobit. 10. The Punishment of Heliodorus. 11. The Annunciation to Mary. It will be remarked that all these subjects are strictly scriptural.

2. In the Convent of Sant-Angelo at Bologna, Camillo Procaccino painted the ‘Acts of the Holy Angels’ in the following order:—1. The Fall of the Dragon. 2. The Angels drive Adam and Eve from Paradise. 3. The three Angels visit Abraham. 4. The Angel stays the arm of Abraham. 5. The Angel wrestles with Jacob. 6. The Angels visit Jacob in a Dream. 7. The Angel delivers the three Children in the burning fiery Furnace. 8. The Angel slays the Host of Sennacherib. 9. The Angel protects Tobit. 10. The Punishment of Heliodorus. 11. The Annunciation to Mary. It will be remarked that all these subjects are strictly scriptural.

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