Angel Blowing a Trumpet

1857–59

Angel Blowing a Trumpet, 1857–59. Edgar Degas (French, 1834–1917). Black chalk; sheet: 44.1 x 54 cm (17 3/8 x 21 1/4 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Gift of The Print Club of Cleveland 1976.130 The figure in this drawing closely resembles a number of trumpeting angels in drawings that Edgar Degas made between 1856 and 1858 in preparation for an ambitious but ultimately unrealized history painting on the subject of Saint John the Evangelist accompanied by an angel. Rather than referring to any single passage in the Book of Revelation, Degas distilled an image from passages describing seven trumpeting angels who unleash destruction on earth with their blasts, the voice of Christ that addresses John in loud tones "like a trumpet," and individual angels who lead and instruct the Evangelist. Related studies suggest that the subject is a male model; Degas added breasts almost as an afterthought.