Tuesdays, February 21, 28 and March 7, 14, 21, and 28
6pm - 8pm EST
Admission: $170 / $150 (Patreon members)

PLEASE NOTE: All classes will also be recorded and archived for students who cannot make that time, but it is highly recommended you attend the classes live for the richest experience.

Angels occupy a privileged positionIn in Catholic cosmology’s hierarchical system, which ranks created beings according to their degree of divine essence. Because they are wholly spiritual and non-corporeal, they are closer to God than are humans, even higher beings than prophets or saints. In the Catechism of the Catholic Church, the existence of angels is an article of faith. They exist in nine orders, each with its own set of duties and attributes.

Angels populate Heaven, eternally serving and worshiping God; they have important roles as servants and messengers. They also surround humans as mysterious protectors. But not all angels are good: Satan was originally a good angel made by God, but he fell from divine grace by his rejection of God’s reign, an act which spawned a horde of rebellious angels which are agents of Evil.

Although angels are mentioned in Scripture, they are not often named there. Other than Michael and Raphael, all the named angels are found in sources outside of the Bible. In this course, we will examine the Biblical angelic tradition, as well as diverse other sources, including great works of literature like Dante’s Paradiso and John Milton’s Paradise Lost; the apocryphal, apocalyptic Books of Enoch; and the writings of Church fathers like Dionysius the Areopagite and St. Augustine, who said that “every visible thing in this world is put under the charge of an angel.”

The appearance of angels in art is a complex and fascinating topic. Although they are understood to be bodiless, sexless, pure spirits, such things cannot be easily depicted; so, artists have given them visible embodiment in winged, humanoid form, and they have generally been given male characteristics. We will study the dazzling array of angel images from their ancient roots through the modern day, focusing on the Medieval and Early Renaissance periods, a golden age of angel iconography.

Each of the 6 weekly meetings will contain a vividly illustrated lecture on angels in art history, as well as suggested readings, homework prompts, and class discussions. The final project will invite you to choose a personal favorite angel, whether good or evil, and trace its angelologic tradition throughout the history of scripture, literature, paintings, prints and sculptures.

Topics covered will include:

• Ancient Angelic Ancestors: Winged Spirits in The Pre-Christian Era

• Angels in Judeo-Christian Textual Sources and in Early Christian Art (especially the Books of Enoch)

• The Nine Orders of Heavenly Angels in Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Art (especially Sandro Botticelli and Albrecht Durer)

• Representing Satan and the Fallen Angels in Medieval and Renaissance Literature and Art (especially Dante’s Paradiso and John Milton’s Paradise Lost, and the visual art they inspired)

• Celestial Clerics: Vested Angels in the Art of the Early Northern Renaissance

• The Depiction of Angels in the Baroque through Modern Eras (especially William Blake and Gustave Dore)

Brenda Edgar is an Art Historian in Louisville, KY. Her research interests include relics and reliquaries, medieval medical manuscripts and depictions of disease in medieval art, as well as the historical role of altered states of consciousness in the creation of art.

She is also a poet whose work has most recently appeared in the literary journals Better Than Starbucks and Rust + Moth; her poetry will also be featured in 2022 issues of The Blue Mountain Review, The Main Street Rag, and Crosswinds.

When she isn’t reading or writing, Brenda is a New York Times Crossword Puzzle addict and an avid yogi.

Her free monthly public talk series, “Art History Illustrated,” is presented at the Carnegie Center for Art and History in New Albany, Indiana.

1. Crimson Seraph, from prose version of Pèlerinage de vie humaine of Guillaume de Deguileville, Hainaut ca. 1490

2. Gustave Dore, The Fall of Lucifer, from Paradise Lost

3. Mosaic of Angels from the Church of San Vitale in Ravenna, Italy (6th century)

4. The “Smiling Angel” of Reims Cathedral

5. Panel of the Ghent Altarpiece by Jan van Eyck depicting Musical Angels