Renaissance Art and the Depiction of Archangels

Archangels were a commonplace subject for artists from the Middle Ages through the Renaissance Period. As Angels of Presence, with the permission to enter the presence of God, the four Archangels - Gabriel, Uriel, Raphael and Michael were recognized across the religions of Christianity, Juadaism and Islam, although their greatest roles were often documented in apocryphal writings.

The most well known depiction of the Archangel Michael resides in the Santa Maria della Concezione, in the first chael. The work is from Renaissance painter Guido Reni, who was a master of the Baroque style which evolved from the Roman Catholic Churches edict that religious art should engage the commoner with dramatic and emotional appeal. Reni's The Archangel Michael shows the fair haired, musculatured angel with androgynous features hovering over the Devil, with his foot against the demon's head forcing him into submission. The painting depicts a scene from the book of Revelations where Archangel Michael commands an Angel Army against Lucifer and binds him for 1000 years. It is often referred to as Archangel Michael Slaying the Devil.

The Archangel Gabriel was the angel who announced to the Virgin Mary that she would have a son by God. This biblical event is referred to as The Annunciation and is a frequent subject of Renaissance art. Two works stand out as iconic paintings on the subject. Da Vinci's the Annunciation was painted from 1472-1475 and is credited to both Da Vinci and his mentor Andrea del Verrocchio. In the painting Archangel Gabriel kneels before Mary, a Madonna lily in hand which historians believe symbolizes Mary's virginity.

Botticelli's Cestello Annunciation, commissioned in 1489, captures the same event with similar imagery. The painting is noted for its use of perspective in the tiles that lead the eye to the landscape. Botticelli paints Gabriel with mouth open, to represent his words from the Gospel of Luke which were added into the paintings original frame. Today both paintings can be seen in the Uffizi Gallery in Florence, Italy.

The angel Raphael was most often captured in oil as the guardian of Tobias, son of Tobit on his journey to recover hidden money for his blind father, a passage from the Book of Tobit. His role as god of healing and protector is evident in these paintings that show him leading the boy by his hand. Filippino Lippi's version of Tobias and the Angel can be seen at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C. Rembrandt took great interest in the Book of Tobit and the Archangel Raphael, making it a frequent subject of his work.

Da Vinci used Archangel Uriel as the subject of two nearly identical paintings titled Virgin of the Rocks or Madonna of the Rocks. The painting displays a scene where the baby Jesus encounters his cousin John the Baptist as an infant. In the paintings, the Archangel Gabriel is seated to the Mary's left holding the baby Jesus. Subtle variations can be seen in Da Vinci's two paintings. In the version of the painting on display in the National Gallery in London, Mary, Jesus and John are haloed. In the version that can be seen in the Lourve, Uriel points at John. While the Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown has created some controversy around these paintings and the true identity of Jesus in the image - art historians surmise that the original where Uriel points at John who is closest to Mary did create confusion and the second painting by Da Vinci removed this gesture.