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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileFra Angelico - Angel beating a Drum detail from the Linaivoli Triptych 1433 not brightened
This figure is a detail from the frame of the Linaiuoli Triptych, depicting one of twelve angels performing celestial music. The angel stands upon a stylized cloud, striking a red cylindrical drum with two mallets while wearing a punched gold halo and a flame-like ornament atop its head. The wings feature a gradient from brilliant gold at the shoulders to a deep, saturated red at the primary feathers.
The depiction of musical angels in early Renaissance Florence reflects the Neoplatonic concept of 'Musica Universalis' or the Music of the Spheres. This idea, central to the Western esoteric tradition, posits that the movements of celestial bodies and divine beings produce a harmonic resonance that maintains the order of the cosmos.
Dionysius the Areopagite
His 'Celestial Hierarchy' provided the standard framework for the angelic orders and their roles in reflecting divine harmony in the Renaissance.
Plato's Timaeus
The text's description of the harmonic structure of the world-soul underlies the Renaissance association between music and the divine order.
Object
the Linaivoli Triptych
Oil on panel
religious
Digital Source
Wikimedia Commons · Public domain
https://www.meisterdrucke.us/fine-art-prints/Fra-Angelico/152658/Angel-beating-a-Drum-(detail).html Original from the Linaivoli Triptych, 1433.
Public domain
461 × 1164 px
399fbfcd717cdf8e33a3865ae267aa5c86549271
January 12, 2025
March 23, 2026
Linked Data
AI AI-cataloged fields generated by gemini-3-flash-preview on March 31, 2026. Getty identifiers are AI-inferred and may require verification.