The creation of angels and their iconographic representation in medieval illuminated manuscripts: a study of aesthetics and medieval thought

Abstract

One of the most controversial exegetical questions in patristic theology concerns the creation of the angels, a chapter eluded in Genesis. The question was especially burdensome if one takes into account the important mediation functions attributed to the angels in not only theological but also philosophical contexts. This question was especially serious if we consider the important mediation functions attributed to the angels not only in theological contexts, but also in philosophical ones. This circumstance highlights the presence in the Latin tradition of at least two perspectives, initiated respectively by St. Augustine and St. Ambrose. The purpose of this work on medieval aesthetics is to analyze the different decisions regarding the motif of the creation of angels and to study how medieval scribes and illuminators proposed with their miniatures the support of one or the other position, to the point of generating different iconographic types according to the doctrinal positions to which they ascribed. We will approach to the role played by angels in patristic philosophy and the consequent theological importance of the question of their creation. Next, and taking as a basis the two alternatives mentioned above, we study the main Latin contributions in the field of commentaries on the six days of Creation, taking as a basis the two alternatives mentioned above. Third, we propose an analysis of a selection of images from medieval manuscripts from the 12th to the 14th centuries in order to identify the iconographic types of this motif. In the end, we present some final considerations.