Deel van een zuil met een gezicht van een engel, van de San Marco in Venetië before 1885

This is Carl Heinrich Jacobi's photograph of a column from San Marco in Venice, immortalizing the stone carving. Note the cherubic face flanked by garlands – a motif deeply rooted in the classical world. Such images of winged spirits, symbols of divine messengers, were common in ancient Roman art. The wreath symbolizes both celebration and victory, signifying continuity and a connection between the earthly and the divine. However, the image of the angel is far from static. The angel, which in antiquity represented pagan deities, underwent a metamorphosis with the advent of Christianity, becoming a guardian of the soul. In the Renaissance, we observe this synthesis, where classical forms are imbued with Christian meaning, and so on, in an ongoing, cyclical process. The angel's face carries an intense emotional charge, its gaze engaging the viewer, stirring in us feelings of hope and protection – an emotional force that transcends time. The past is never truly gone. The classical lives on, pulsating beneath the surface, resurfacing, and evolving, always seeking to express the fundamental questions of human existence.