There is nothing more beautiful, more attractive, in Art than the representations of angels in this character. Sometimes they form a chorus round the glorified Saviour, when, after his sorrow and sacrifice on earth, he takes his throne in heaven; or, when the crown is placed on the head of the Maternal Virgin in glory, pour forth their triumphant song, and sound their silver clarions on high: sometimes they stand or kneel before the Madonna and Child, or sit upon the steps of her throne, singing,—with such sweet earnest faces! or playing on their golden lutes, or piping celestial symphonies; or they bend in a choir from the opening heavens above, and welcome, with triumphant songs, the liberated soul of the saint or martyr; or join in St. Cecilia’s hymn of praise: but whatever the scene, in these and similar representations, they appear in their natural place and vocation, and harmonise enchantingly with all our feelings and fancies relative to these angelic beings, made up of love and music. [Illustration: 14 Angel (Francia)] [Illustration: 15 Piping Angel (Gian Bellini)] Most beautiful examples of this treatment occur both in early painting and sculpture; and no one who has wandered through churches and galleries, with feeling and observation awake, can fail to remember such. It struck me as characteristic of the Venetian school, that the love of music seemed to combine with the sense of harmony in colour; nowhere have I seen musical angels so frequently and so beautifully introduced: and whereas the angelic choirs of Fiesole, Ghirlandajo, and Raphael, seem to be playing as an act of homage for the delight of the Divine Personages, those of Vivarini and Bellini and Palma appear as if enchanted by their own music; and both together are united in the grand and beautiful angels of Melozzo da Forli, particularly in one who is bending over a lute, and another who with a triumphant and ecstatic expression strikes the cymbals.[29] Compare the cherubic host who are pouring forth their hymns of triumph, blowing their uplifted trumpets, and touching immortal harps and viols in Angelico’s ‘Coronation,’[30] or in Signorelli’s ‘Paradiso,’[31] with those lovely Venetian choristers, the piping boys, myrtle-crowned, who are hymning Bellini’s Madonna,[32] or those who are touching the lute to the praise and glory of St. Ambrose in Vivarini’s most beautiful picture; you will feel immediately the distinction in point of sentiment.