Angel (c. 1250): Art, History and Details

Angel (c. 1250) is in the Cleveland Museum of Art collection.

The work and its context

The museum's open-access catalogue describes the work:

Surviving in fragmentary condition, this pair of angels lacks lower arms, hands, wings, and attributes. Their original paint and gilding, now almost entirely lost, once rendered their garments a rich brocade and their hair a luxuriant gold. Nonetheless, in their graceful poses and sublime faces—which may portray tragic interest, anguish, or deep concern—their original delicacy and power are still evident. They embody the monumental style of 13th-century High Gothic cathedral sculpture in France. Their style specifically suggests they were carved in or around Reims, possibly by sculptors associated with the cathedral there. Their original placement is unknown, but they may have flanked an altar on columns.

Object facts

• Title: Angel
• Date: c. 1250
• Culture: France, vicinity of Reims, 13th century
• Type: Sculpture
• Technique: walnut with traces of gilding and polychromy
• Dimensions: Overall: 75 x 41.5 x 22.5 cm (29 1/2 x 16 5/16 x 8 7/8 in.)
• Collection: MED - Gothic
• Department: Medieval Art
• Accession number: 1966.360

Collection credit

Leonard C. Hanna Jr. Fund

Further reading listed by the museum

• “Year in Review.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 54, no. 10 (December 1967): 302–346.
• The Cleveland Museum of Art. Handbook of the Cleveland Museum of Art/1969. Cleveland, OH: The Cleveland Museum of Art, 1969.
• Wixom, William D. “Two Thirteenth-Century Walnut Angels.” The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 61, no. 3 (March 1974): 83–96.

View the collection record

See the museum's photographs and full catalogue entry. Catalogue text is reproduced from the Cleveland Museum of Art's open-access data, with HTML formatting removed. This object and its supplied image are designated CC0.