The trumpet angels vary in number from two to many, and are differently placed according to the varying designs of the artists. Orcagna and Fra Angelico placed them below the Judge, thus indicating that their sound could be heard in all the earth. In other pictures, they sound the trumpets directly above the graves, which open, displaying the rising dead, startled from their long sleep and struggling to gain a foothold on the earth above.
The third class of angels are those who announce their fate to all who are to be judged. They sometimes hold the balance in which souls are weighed; again, they direct those who come to judgment to the right or left, as in our picture from the Last Judgment by Fra Angelico, in the Florentine Academy; and, again, as in Orcagna’s great picture in the Campo Santo at Pisa, a grand warrior angel, with splendid wings,—a true St. Michael,—clad in full armor, with his sword by his side, a glorious halo about his head, and the angelic flame above his brow, holds out two scrolls,—one of joy and one of woe,—on which are written the names of the entire human race.
The pictures of the Last Judgment by Orcagna, Angelico, and Signorelli, in the Cathedral of Orvieto, and Michael Angelo, in the Sistine Chapel, are among the famous pictures of the world.
The Scriptures mention still other appearances of angels, as that to Cornelius, when he was directed to send to Joppa for Peter; and, again, when Peter was in prison and the Church prayed for him, an angel led him forth and the Apostle departed to Cesarea for safety.
Philip was sent by an angel to meet the Ethiopian eunuch, and teach him the truth, after which he baptized the eunuch, and was then caught away by the Spirit, or angel of the Lord.
At times the angels were sent on missions of punishment, as when Herod, in the midst of his blasphemy, was smitten by God’s messenger, and gave up the ghost.
These subjects are rich in artistic suggestion, and nearly all have been represented in painting or sculpture. The book of the Revelation, too, abounds in visions of angels, from the beginning, when an angel from heaven “signified it” to John the Divine, to the end, when the angel refused to be worshipped, and declared himself the fellow servant of John, and of the prophets, and of all that keep the sayings of the book.
Fra Bartolommeo.—An Angel playing the Violin.