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Angels in Art: A Heavenly Collection from The Metropolitan Museum

  • Vikki Griffin

Vikki Griffin

•5 min read
Italian, Paris or Pavia ca. 1374/75–after 1438 Verona / The Met

    This deeply affective work combines an austerity in the composition with an elegance in the description of the figures that is characteristic of painting at the cosmopolitan court in Milan under Duke Gian Galeazzo Visconti (1351 - 1402).
    Stefano da Verona was a leading exponent of this refined style, which owes much to sculpture and to French miniature painting.
    The delicately tooled gold background emulates expensive goldsmith work (the thornless roses are emblems of the Virgin Mary).

The Temptation of Saint Mary Magdalen

German, Oldenburg ca. 1595/1600–1631 Verona / The Met

    Born in northern Germany but active in Amsterdam, Rome, and Venice, Liss synthesized Rubens, Caravaggio, Bernini, and Titian, evolving a style that virtually encapsulates what we refer to today as baroque.
   Liss probably executed this painting in Venice.
   The reformed prostitute Mary Magdalen is shown rejecting the world's riches - represented by the dark-skinned, turbaned figure - in favor of an angel who bears the palm of victory
    Her back-tilted head, half-closed eyes, and exposed breasts merge with the lush paint handling in an almost shocking eroticism.
   Only around thirty works by Liss are known, of which this is one of the most important.

The Annunciation

Italian, Viadana ca. 1505–ca. 1570 Parma / The Met

    This painting is unusual for showing the annunciation of Christ's birth as taking place in the Virgin's bedroom at night, by candlelight.
    It is a precocious example of a modello - a proposal or model for a project that could be shown to the patron.
    It is related to an altarpiece Bedoli painted in the 1550s for a church in his hometown, near Parma.

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