Ruskin finds another objection to the disciples of the winged arm. In his disquisition on the equilibrium of angels he complains that those of the traditional two-wing type are devoid of gravitational balance. Such creatures vex the imagination with apprehensions for their stability; hence they cannot be entirely beautiful. The centroid of an angel is in the small of its back, whereas the center of wing support is well forward; therefore the horizontal poise is absurd and unæsthetic. The scientific artist, consequently, views with pain the picture of a fair lady floating level through space supported only at her front end.
Milton adroitly forestalls this censure. In the conception of his glorious Raphael, he provides consummately for uniform and adequate support:
Six wings he wore, to shade
His lineaments divine; the pair that clad
Each shoulder broad, came mantling o’er his breast
With regal ornament; the middle pair
Girt like a starry zone his waist, and round
Skirted his loins and thighs with downy gold,
And colors dipped in Heaven; the third his feet
Shadowed from either heel with feathered mail,