In the New Testament angels are much more frequently alluded to than in the Old; more as a reality, less as a vision; in fact, there is no important event throughout the Gospels and Acts in which angels do not appear, either as immediate agents, or as visible and present; and in scenes where they are not distinctly said to be visibly present, they are assumed to be so invisibly, St. Paul having said expressly that ‘their ministry is continual.’ It is therefore with undeniable propriety that, in works of Art representing the incidents of the Gospels, angels should figure as a perpetual presence, made visible under such forms as custom and tradition have consecrated. I pass over, for the present, the grandest, the most important mission of an angel, the announcement brought by Gabriel to the blessed Virgin. I shall have to treat it fully hereafter.[44] The angel who appears to Joseph in a dream, and the angel who commands him to flee into Egypt, was in both cases probably the same angel who hailed Mary as blessed above all women; but we are not told so; and according to some commentators it was the guardian angel of Joseph who appeared to him. In these and other scenes of the New Testament, in which angels are described as direct agents, or merely as a chorus of ministering attendants, they have the usual form, enhanced by as much beauty, and benignity, and aërial grace as the fancy of the artist could bestow on them. In the Nativity they are seen hovering on high, pouring forth their song of triumph; they hold a scroll in their hands on which their song is written: in general there are three angels; the first sings, _Gloria in excelsis Deo!_ the second, _Et in terra pax!_ the third, _Hominibus bonæ voluntatis!_ but in some pictures the three angels are replaced by a numerous choir, who raise the song of triumph in the skies, while others are seen kneeling round and adoring the Divine Infant. The happiest, the most beautiful, instance I can remember of this particular treatment is the little chapel in the Riccardi Palace at Florence. This chapel is in the form of a Greek cross, and the frescoes are thus disposed:— [Illustration: 20 Altar ┌────────┐ │ 4 5 │ │ │ ┌─────┘ └─────┐ │ 3 1 │ │3 1│ │ 3 1 │ └─────┐ ┌─────┘ │ │ │2 2│ └────────┘ Door ]