A Closer Look: Angels Erika Langmuir

Formerly part of the popular "Pocket Guides" series, "Angels" is published in a new edition as "A Closer Look", with a wealth of beautiful reproductions. This informative guide helps readers identify angels and their significance in a painting - be it from the National Gallery or from other collections. Angels are an integral part of Christian art, performing a multitude of roles. Massed together they may form a heavenly choir, glorifying the Virgin Mary or commenting on the surrounding action. Individually, angels can set the scene and engage the viewer, act as messengers between God and man, or become key characters illustrating episodes of Christian history. This book explains these diversities, and explores the surprisingly complicated history of angels in Western art. Looking at some of the most engaging paintings in the National Gallery, discover how artistic depictions mirrored the increasing sophistication of angelic doctrine, which eventually proposed the existence of nine types of angel.

Erika Langmuir, OBE, was educated in France and the United States. She has taught at the University of Sussex and held the Chair of Art History at the Open University. She was Head of Education at the National Gallery (1988-1995).

"An excellent series, 'A Closer Look at...', which guides us through the collections of the National Gallery...so lavishly illustrated, they represent very good value for money indeed"
-Michael Glover, The Independent