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Wikimedia Commons · Public domain · Hover to magnify, click for fullscreen
Original fileFra Angelico - Angel Playing a Tambourine detail from the Linaiuoli Triptych, 1433, not brightened
A profile view of a blonde angel dressed in a long rose-colored robe with gold embroidered borders. The figure holds a red-rimmed tambourine and features large blue-and-gold feathered wings against a gilded background. The angel's head is surrounded by a circular halo decorated with intricate punched-metal patterns.
This depiction of musical angels represents the celestial hierarchy and the 'Music of the Spheres,' a concept where cosmic order is expressed through harmonic proportions. It reflects the early Renaissance effort to visualize the divine harmony described in Neoplatonic and Christian cosmology.
Dante Alighieri
The imagery of the celestial host in the Paradiso section of the Divine Comedy provided the primary literary framework for these depictions of angelic musicians.
Plato's Timaeus
The philosophical concept of the 'Music of the Spheres' and cosmic harmony found in this text influenced the Renaissance view of angels as executors of mathematical, 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/218407/Angel-Playing-a-Tambourine-(detail).html Original from the Linaivoli Triptych, 1433.
Public domain
428 × 1086 px
3720122db3e3b569a19ca18e3806f5518ae4be77
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.