Thursday, April 28, 2011

Biblical Angels – Black and White Art


Angels are messengers of God in the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and the Quran. The term “angel” has also been expanded to various notions of spiritual beings found in many other religious traditions. Other roles of angels include protecting and guiding human beings, and carrying out God’s tasks.
The theological study of angels is known as angelology. In art, angels are often depicted with wings, ultimately reflecting the descriptions in the Hebrew Bible, such as the chayot in Ezekiel’s Merkabah vision or the Seraphim of Isaiah.
The word angel in English is a fusion of the Old English word engel (with a hard g) and the Old French angele. Both derive from the Latin angelus which in turn is the romanization of the ancient Greek  “angelos”, “messenger”. The earliest form of the word is the Mycenaean a-ke-ro. (source: wiki)


Ella Fournier – “The Two Angels”






“Angelwings”






“Saint Michael Slaying the Dragon”






“Cupid”






“Angel”






Charles Errard – “Angel”






Karl Brulloff – “Flying Angel”






“Praying Angel”






Gustave Dore – “The Angel appearing to Balaam”






Rembrandt Harmenszoon van Rijn – “The Angel appearing to the shepherds”






“Jacob wrestles the Angel on his knees”