There are Angels in Our Midst
Angels:
‘A Spiritual being serving as a divine messenger, intermediary, special protector.’
‘Agents of supernatural revelation, proclamation, aid and guidance.’
During the fall of 2023, four ‘Angelos di Terra’ (earth angels) emerged from my printmaking studio. The story of their origin is tied to Florence’s Renaissance and a journey I made to that captivating city of art and culture.
In 2023, I studied figure drawing at the Florence Academy of Art (FAA). During a visit to the Museo Nazionale del Bargello (Bargello Museum) with an FAA art historian, she showed us the ‘Competition’ panels crafted by Filippo Brunelleschi and Lorenzo Ghiberti, each depicting the Sacrifice of Isaac. The two artists crafted these panels in response to a 1401 call to artists to create a second set of bronze doors for the Battistero di San Giovanni (Florence Baptistry) which forms part of the Duomo complex in central Florence.
Brunelleschi lost the competition; but he faired well, as he became the architect of one of Florence’s most iconic sights; the dome of the Duomo. Ghiberti not only won this competition, but he also went on to build a third set of completely gilded set of doors aptly named by Michaelangelo as the’ Gates of Paradise’ (Porta del Paradiso).
It is one of the gilded panels in the Gates of Paradise that captivated my imagination. In the fourth panel, Ghiberti tells the story of Abraham. Three angels, or messengers, are depicted telling Abraham of the birth of his son, Isaac, in the lower left-hand corner. Ghiberti uses slender trees and a dissolving landscape to take the viewer’s eyes up to the right-hand corner of the panel where the sacrifice of Isaac is depicted.
Ghiberti’s depiction of the three angels beneath the trees remained indelible in my mind even after I returned to Canada, and I knew a series of artworks would eventually emerge bringing together my fascination with angels, my love of the outdoors, and wish to heed the word of those messengers.
My one-month stay in Florence in July of 2023 could be summarized as, ‘art, angels and heat.’ My days centred around my studies at FAA and seeing the works of the great masters at museums throughout the city. While not religious, the angels captured my imagination and after a while I began to take photos of those depicted within the plethora of artworks on display; attempting to capture their luminosity, wings, grace, and inner light.
Walking between Florence’s famous sights, my Airbnb apartment, and the FAA, I covered at least ten kilometers a day. With the extreme heat, I consumed at least four litres of water during those excursions (along with a spritz or two! This heatwave was aptly named ‘Cerberus’ by the Italian Meteorological Society; ‘after the three-headed monster that features in Dante’s Inferno as a guard to the gates of hell.’ Temperatures rose to 45-46 degrees Celsius in central Italy during this time! By mid-July, this fiery monster was taking shape in the form of wildfires threatening Italy, Greece, and other parts of Europe. The news from home was no better with Canada facing 29 mega-fires, each exceeding 100,000 hectares at this time.
When I first saw Ghibertti’s 1425 carving of the three angels standing beneath a forest, my first thought was of the heatwaves and subsequent wildfires threatening the forests of our world, and asked myself ‘Are we listening?’ The forest is such a sacred place, somewhere I know I and many others retreat to find peace and restore themselves; it is a vital life-force, acting as a carbon sink in normal times; and, as depicted in the book the ‘Hidden Life of Trees,’ its own community.
Upon returning home, I envisioned a series of four ‘Angelos di Terra,’ or earth angels depicted in some of the forests that hold special memories for me, and I am sure many other people. Creating these artworks was a chance to meditate on the questions of ‘Are we listening’ and ‘What can we do? I am still thinking about those questions but do hope my four artworks will give people pause and a chance to explore these questions for themselves.
My inspiration for the four Angelos di Terra was drawn from photographs I took of famous artworks in Florence and of forests my own wilderness experiences in Ontario, Quebec and British Columbia, Canada as explained below:
Image 1: Angelo di Terra (Toscani): Pacific Rim, B.C.
The Angel Gabriel depicted here is from my photograph of the reconstruction of a polyptych originally painted by Giovanni Di Francesco Toscani in Florence, Italy (1372-143). Gabriel is seen hovering within the rainforest of the West Coast Trail in British Columbia’s Pacific Rim National Park in Canada. I took a photograph of this scene during a backcountry hike I did with my eldest daughter Ciara in 2018. This region is home to some of Canada’s oldest forests.
Image 2: Angelo di Terra (Fra’ Angelico): Algonquin Park, Ontario
The Angel Gabriel highlighted here is based on my photograph of Fra’ Angelico’s infamous Annunciation painting found at the Covent of San Marco, Florence, Italy. The scene is set along the shores of Algonquin Park, Ontario, Canada, where I took photos of a canoe camping trip taken with two friends and a dog several years ago. My memory of that trip was that it took three days to get far enough into the park to leave behind evidence of human habitation and feel as if we were closer to experiencing the wilderness.
Image 3: Angelo di Terra (Martini): Papinelle LaBelle, Quebec
In this image, Angel Gabriel once again makes an appearance and is based on my photograph of the Annunciation by Simone Martini (1284) found in Le Gallerie delgi Uffizi (Uffizi gallery) in Florence, Italy. I have placed him in Réserve faunique de Papineau-Labelle (Papinelle Labelle Wildlife Reserve), Quebec, a geographically unique region where I took photos while undertaking a canoe camping adventure with a friend.
Image 4: Angelo di Terra (Fra’ Angelico): Lynn Canyon, British Columbia
Finally, the Angel Gabriel is found walking the Baden Powell Trail, part of the lush forest found within the relatively urban landscape of Lynn Canyon Park, in North Vancouver, British Columbia. This is home to the Lynn Canyon Suspension Bridge which I visited in the fall of 2023. The Angel Gabriel is taken from a photograph I took of one of Fra’ Angelico’s frescoes in one of the individual cells found within the priory of San Marco, Florence, Italy. They were said to be an aid to meditation.
I carved each Angelo di Terra in linocut using fine Pfeil and Flexicut tools. They were printed on the delicate off-white BFK Rives paper using Burnt Sienna Caligo Safe Wash ink and then hand-painted with gold leaf.
Burnt Sienna is a deep-hued, reddish-brown pigment produced through the heating of raw sienna clay. One of the oldest earth pigments, it has been found in cave paintings and was originally mined by the Romans in the area known today as Tuscany. It is said to be symbolic of great passion for home, hearth, and the natural world which seemed fitting for this series of artworks. The gold leaf I added to the angel’s wings and halos to connect each piece back to their original early Renaissance artworks and to bring out each angel’s inner radiance.
Interested in purchasing one of the Angelos di Terra? Please go to the Contact page to send me an email or send me a DM on instagram. If you are interested in a unique Commission, please read my page on Commissioned work and then send me an email!
3/11 Angelo di Terra (Toscani): Pacific Rim, British Columbia
1/11 Angelo di Terra (Fra’ Angelico): Algonquin Park, ON
7/10 Angelo di Terra (Martini): Papinelle LaBelle, Qu.
2/9 Angelo di Terra (Fra’ Angelico): Lynn Canyon, BC.