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Head of an Angel by Verrocchio, more Italian Angels below

Two of Fra Angelico's delicate, golden angels, more below

Angel Stencils from Amazon.com

Angels

Angels in Italian art, especially iconic art and early Renaissance art, were straight from the Bible stories.  

Biblical paintings were the mainstay of artists, often funded by the church, to decorate the churches.  They accompanied all the scenes from the stories of Mary, Jesus, the saints and disciples.

Later, when wealth began to accumulate with the trading class, artists made more secular paintings, like portraits of their patrons.  Angels would have looked out of place in such secular paintings, so they disappeared...

But angels played another role in Italian art.  They were often put into the roles that the Roman and Greek gods played, as muses to artists of all kinds:  architects, painters, musicians, sculptors, writers...

The Web Gallery of Art has a wide collection of Renaissance art.  To see their Angels, insert in their search field: Text=Angel.

Catholic.org has a catalog of Angels and Saints.

Putti (singular putto) or Cherubs

A putto, usually a naked boy with wings, was a common feature in Italian Renaissance paintings.  

In English, we usually call them cherubs, and they fall under a category of lower order, or solely decorative, angels.

They are usually playful, often unruly, and always adorable.  They comment on the scene depicted by the painter, at times with contemplation, and at other times with childlike short attention spans.

Fra Angelico's Angels

The early Renaissance artist Fra Angelico, painted delicate, intricate, golden images of angels that seem other-worldly.  I photographed many of his paintings/frescos while in Italy, and was always fascinated by his angels. 

Here are some images of the angels from various works of his.  They are often a framing element in his works, rather than the central figures. 

Some of the images are mine, and some are from the Web Gallery of Art.  You'll find that the colors vary in images of the same work due to lighting conditions, printing, etc.

The Web Gallery of Art has images of many of Fra Angelico's paintings, and detail images from his paintings.  Enter in their search field:  Artist=Fra Angelico.

Fra Angelico Angel Gallery

Italian Angel Gallery

Leonardo DaVinci

Filippino Lippi

Perugino

Perugino

Perugino

Botticelli

Botticelli

Fra Filippo Lippi

Agostino Carracci

From the Sistine Madonna painting by Raphael

Angel from The Annunciation by Leonardo da Vinci

Tobias and the Angel by Andrea del Verrocchio

Musician Angels by Bernardino Luini

Angel with Lute by Melozzo da Forli

Filippino Lippi

Rosso Fiorentino

Guardian Angel by Araldo di Luca

Head of an Angel by Pietro da Cortona

Filippino Lippi

Angels Playing Music by Marcantonio Franceschini

Angels Drawing by Francesco Bartolozzi

Alterpiece by Fra Angelico for the Fiesole Church of San Domenico.  Mary with the baby Jesus surrounded by angels.  You really have to see this in person to enjoy the multicolored wings of the angels framing Mary and Jesus!

Visit my Coloring Pages for images of Angels for children to color