Note 21 — FLEMISH PAINTING

“The introduction of little angels singing vigorously and playing on musical instruments about the Madonna’s throne was a favorite motif of the Umbrian Boccatis. Indeed, angel musicians were represented by artists of all Schools from the Twelfth to the Seventeenth Century. They stand or kneel before the Madonna and Child, or—particularly in Venetian and North Italian paintings—sit on the steps of the throne, playing on lutes, harps, viols, miniature organs, blowing horns and trumpets, striking cymbals and triangles or beating drums and timbrels, and singing their songs of praise and adoration. They make a delightful note of joyousness in representations of the Madonna and Child and are among the happiest creations of painters and sculptors.”—Mediæval and Renaissance Paintings (Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 1927).