Currently not on view
Angel,
13th century
Netherlandish or Northern French
y1954-46
These figures, which have lost their wings, belong to a type of angel that began to appear in Northern French churches in the mid-thirteenth century. Because of their relatively rough carving, the Princeton angels may be from the southern Netherlands. Made in groups of two to six, such angels were on pillars supporting curtains to set off the most sacred space in the church, the area around the altar, which represented the Heavenly Jerusalem. Some angels held candles, musical instruments, or instruments of the Passion. The appearance of numerous angels in the decoration of churches in the thirteenth century attests to the renewed interest in them, thanks to St. Thomas Aquinas (1225–1274) and his theological treatise, Summa Theologica, in which the hierarchy of angels was defined.
Information
Title
Angel
Dates
13th century
Medium
Wood
Dimensions
67.5 × 17 × 16 cm (26 9/16 × 6 11/16 × 6 5/16 in.)
Credit Line
Museum purchase, gift of Carl Otto von Kienbusch, Class of 1906, for the Carl Otto von Kienbusch Jr., Memorial Collection
Object Number
y1954-46
Place Made
Europe, Netherlands
Culture
Type
Materials
Subject
Baron Schickler, Cherbourg. (Mathias Komor, New York); 1954 museum purchase.
- "Recent acquisitions", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 14, no. 1 (1955): p. 17-19., p. 18
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The Carl Otto von Kienbusch, Jr. Memorial Collection (Princeton: Princeton University Art Museum, 1956)
, cat. no. 33 (illus.) - Richard H. Randall, Jr., "Thirteenth century altar angels", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 18, no. 1 (1959): p. 2-16., fig. 1, p. 4 (illus.)
- Robert A. Koch, "A Gothic sculpture of the Ascending Christ", Record of the Art Museum, Princeton University 19, no. 1 (1960): p. 37-43., p. 37
- Allen Rosenbaum and Francis F. Jones, Selections from The Art Museum, Princeton University, (Princeton, NJ: The Art Museum, Princeton University, 1986), p. 58 (illus.)
