In pictures of the death scene there are always angels present, in greater or lesser numbers. In the representations of the Assumption of the Virgin she is sometimes borne upward by angels, and again she ascends without aid. In all cases she is attended by choirs of angels, as in the magnificent Assumption by Titian, which is the pride of the Academy in Venice.
In the purely devotional Assumptions such as that sculptured above the portal of the Cathedral of Florence,—the Santa Maria del Fiore,—the Virgin is within the mandorla, or almond-shaped aureole. She is clothed in white and wears a veil
Titian.—The Assumption of the Virgin.
and crown; her hands are joined and she ascends in a glory of light, surrounded by angels. The only special difference in these sculptures is the position of the Virgin, who sometimes sits, and again stands upright, in the mandorla. When the representation corresponds to this, except that the Virgin has no crown, it may more properly be called the Glorification of the Virgin.
Besides the representations of angels who make a part of the devotional and historical scenes in the lives of Christ and the Virgin, of the Evangelists, Apostles, and Fathers of the Church, there are a great number that illustrate the legends of the saints. For example, that of St. Cecilia, whose music charmed even the angelic choirs, so that the angels brought to her the roses of Paradise, is one of the most beautiful.
After the death of St. Catherine of Alexandria, angels bore her body to the top of Mount Sinai, as represented in our illustration by Mücke.