The Church has always held art in high esteem. More than simply something aesthetic, it is a useful tool for instruction. Through the hands of artists, generations of Christians have learned the scriptures. The angels, however, offer a perplexing challenge to the Catholic artist.
Scripture does not shy away from describing these divine emissaries in all their terrifying and yet sublime majesty. There are the pillars of cloud and flame, the many-eyed, smouldering seraphim and the terrible, chimera-like cherubim upon which the war chariot of God goes forth. But neither does Scripture depict angels only with such elevation. There are also the three strangers who eat a meal with Abraham, the mysteriously elusive Raphael who guides Tobias and the almost absurdly simple apparitions of the two white-robed men who rebuke the Apostles for gawking at Jesus’s Ascension.
