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Sunday 14 February 2010

Winged Beings, Various


I was going to write a poem about how much I dislike cherubs.   You know, these guys (on the left, by Raphael, on the right, by Poussin):


Cute chubby little toddlers with wings, who hang about in the corners of paintings.  They annoy me.






But it turns out that I was misinformed, not to say confused, for these are not cherubs, they're putti.







Cherubs, or to be correct cherubim, are much more impressive, being actually a kind of angel.  According to Wikipedia, they can look like this:


Cherubim have been described thus, based on early books in the Old Testament:  "they have four faces: one of each a man, an ox, a lion, and an eagle... They have four conjoined wings covered with eyes, and they have ox's feet."     No chubby little boys there, then.

What an interesting idea angels are. Jews, Christians and Muslims all believe in them. Medieval Christian theologians got them organised into hierarchical rankings with different tasks, based on interpretations of the scriptures (read all about the system here).



The Assumption of the Virgin, by Francesco Botticini, showing three hierarchies and nine orders of angels


In spite of the ox's foot stuff, angels acquired a pretty much uniform appearance in art: tall, handsome humanoids in nice robes with large, rather smart feathery wings, in white or various colours.


 The Annunciation by Petrus Christus

Of course, recently angels have been co-opted for all sorts of alternative belief systems, and if you Google Image search "angel" you will find some truly terrible art, as well as some that's downright strange:

The Wounded Angel by Hugo Simberg

But somehow the dignity of angels remains intact.  Unlike the dignity of putti, who never had any in the first place.

Please contribute your thoughts on angels, cherubim, seraphim and putti, in verse or prose as you prefer.
(While thinking, you might like to listen to Kathleen Battle and Wynton Marsalis duetting in Handel's Let the Bright Seraphim )

32 comments:

Zephirine said...

And here is my anti-putti poem:

Ah, putti, there you are again,
plump, wingèd and devoid of charm
and all at once I have a yen
to cruelly pinch a chubby arm.

With your cheery little faces
and your ditsy little wings,
you’re just there to fill the spaces
in beween the drapes and things.

Posed in a saucy little tangle,
underclad and overnourished,
painted from a novel angle,
maybe with a bow to flourish,

Cupid’s cousins from the sticks
lacking his power or his style,
little hangers-on who fix
a bit of wreath, or play the viol

(and rather badly, I can tell
though I can’t hear a single sound).
No doubt you helped the picture sell:
there always have been those around

who like a bit of cutesy-pie
- even if in the central scene
some heroine’s about to die
or gods do something quite obscene.

“Oh look, how sweet! The little things!”
Well, don’t expect that guff from me.
I’d paint you out, you kids with wings,
and have some nice clouds, or a tree.

billymills said...

I'm afraid I feel about angles as you do about putti, zeph. Nasty things.

billymills said...

or angels, even :-)

Zephirine said...

Angles can be quite nasty too...

mimi said...

To see this here tonight is somehow so apt. And love the anti-putti.

But I am sitting here dreading tomorrow - the week after saying goodbye to Tigs and Mouse. And I don't know how you feel about cats with wings but my friend gave me two little silver hearts with wings for my furs and I like to think that all old aches and pains now gone, those two are winging around quattrocento art playing havoc with the cupids!

munni said...

I'm intrigued by conjoined wings covered with eyes, though I can't quite visualise how that would work. When I think of angels, I think of the sweety-coloured version of guardian ones that gets peddled out to convent school children - nasty telltales and perverts (the guardian angels, not the children).

Mimi, what a lovely image of your little ones scampering after those putti and making them flap about like harried chickens.

Pinkerbell said...

... and cue one of my favourite films ever, a real feel-good film usually shown at Christmas, "The Bishop's Wife", with David Niven as the bishop who has lost the plot and spends all his efforts trying to build a cathedral instead of looking after his flock, and Cary Grant as an angel who visits to show him the error of his ways.

It appears that you can watch the whole thing in sections on Youtube if you're interested...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=atswoyG4woU (part one)

Glad to hear you've found some comfort in thoughts of angels, Mimi.

mimi said...

munni - I love that. Thank you and also Pink.

In search of something this afternoon, I went to a favourite place - a library. At the real one my librarian presented me with a DVD I've wanted to watch for ages and might be a great diversion from grief (In The Loop) and in the virtual one, I found my favourite angels. They couldn't be further from the paintings, but are beautiful souls and it's why we believe in angels. Der Himmel Uber Berlin.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wi8sYY0pCdE

file said...

to me angles/angels spell flight, pure and simple and often forgotten with all the showbiz around them.

Great presentation Zeph, and poem - Gorgeous title & first line -
"Ah, putti, there you are again,"
and a natural curator, the Handel is très, très and love the Simberg (Finnish art generally is fascinating and this is revered by the Finns, but then they also worship the Moomins so who's to say?).

This sort of fits with some comments on POTW, whether iconic images like stars, mountains, the ocean, angels etc. have past their sell by date. I think "anti-putti" proves there's still a place for painting out putti precociousness (with extreme prejudice).

mimi said...

What's wrong with the Moomins?

Though I do actually have a real sneaky love for the Hemulens.

mimi said...

cassiel

mimi said...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvdlf4Gusfk&feature=related

file said...

nothing wrong with Moomins or Hemulens, but I wouldn't kill a chicken for them.

couldn't believe Cassiel found form in Faraway, So Close.

file said...

yes mims, brilliant

mimi said...

Rocking and rollin
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BhHODhTIvgo&feature=fvst

mimi said...

See my angels as I cry.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0htOcy1QUkk

mimi said...

And this is it.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8lXeTSW0lW4&feature=related

offsideintahiti said...

I prefer bats myself. Furry and leathery, what's not to like?

Which reminds me, I haven't read a poem by file in ages... do we have to beg?

Meltonian said...

East of Eden

This is awkward, but it's more than my job's worth to let you in. I know you've had a hard time-that's a nasty bite on your heel-but the boss was adamant, excuse the pun. Nothing personal, I've got a lot of respect for you, it can't be easy being the first one. All right, your wife's been a bit difficult, but it was made clear from the beginning that we always prosecute. It's not easy for us, you know, it's not the most interesting job in the world and those flaming swords are heavy, and bloody hot. Reggie gave me a nasty burn when he was practising his Tae Kwon Do the other day. Look, here it is, on my-oh, sorry, never mind, it's only your eyebrows, they'll soon grow back. Anyway, you wouldn't like it in there now. The boss is working on a new project and wanted something low maintenance, so she had a rummage through Titchmarsh's brain and now it's all gravel and decking, like a bank clerk's garden in Chingford. The Tree of Life's been cut right back and there's hardly any Knowledge left on the other one. To be honest I think you're well out of it. But that's not the point, is it? Whatever happens, you're never, ever, getting back in there.

Zephirine said...

Great stuff, MM!

File, yes, I've realised the Simberg is very famous in Finnish circles, but I still think it's strange. I don't like the look of that boy at the back, not at all.

I'm afraid, owing to currently doing a tedious and rather tiring job, my blogging is not what it was, and I haven't checked out PP. Maybe later:)

Offie: quite agree, but then we haven't had a poem from you, either...

offsideintahiti said...

Zeph, be thankful for small mercies.

file said...

"and then came the angels as clouds in the skies,
in lakes as lights, as shadows on walls
in heat haze and frost hoars
and they kept coming, silent choirs among us,
in shop windows, populating sunsets,
it was a time of quiet
at first, a secret calm fell on us
as dust cloths were removed

and one by one
they held
our hands in their hands
gently, we were led
and irresistibly, lifted

and we who waited
were a race of orphans
and half of Sri Lanka was empty
and there was a panic in that time
a focus on attachment, or resignation,
a cessation
of the living things began
and we thought we were all going
and some hid
and some stood on mountain tops
their arms wide open, hoping
and then it stopped.

and those of us left
were alone again
with our rumour and our reason
and our
strangely shaped clouds

Anya x"

Zephirine said...

That's a lovely one of yours, File, thanks.

More angels in the Annexe...

file said...

Cheers Zeph

offsideintahiti said...

Merci, mon ange.

Pinkerbell said...

The angels' waltz:

Now, ladies and gentlemen, please squeeze in,
There's not much room on the head of this pin,
I pray you all, please take up your partners,
For the Grand Waltz is about to begin.

You at the back there, cut out those high flings,
Straighten your halos and smooth down your wings,
Stop making a fuss and get into place,
We'll start the dance when the cherabim sings.

Oh please be careful, treat each other well -
Remember that last time Lucifer fell?
He says he misses our heavenly throng,
And said to warn there's no dancing in hell.

It might be crazy and well you may jest,
I'm sure it seems a peculiar quest,
But believing in things they cannot see,
Is a gift with which mankind is not blessed.

It is all beyond their power of thought,
That the world may not be quite as was taught,
That beings exist without any form,
And an infinite mass can equal nought.


(inspired by the theological question "How many angels can dance on the head of a pin?"

Pinkerbell said...

Hm. I'm not sure that link works, so it's this:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Angels_on_a_pinhead

file said...

bravo Pinks, I wonder what kind of dance they do; the Macarena?

Zephirine said...

Nice poem Pink. I wonder if angels dance like this (but only when nobody's looking)?

Pinkerbell said...

Zeph, if I'd pulled my finger out and actually applied for the free tickets in time I would have been going to see Bourne's Swan Lake in April. I'm gutted I missed out on it, at least it's here for Youtube viewing - thanks for the link.

File - perhaps morris dancing?

Paulus said...

Why they're to blame: Greed. You likely would have even sold as the stocks declined during the summer and purchased at lower levels. PERHAPS ONE TRUE 'DANCER'

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