Vliegende engel 1666 - 1707

Gérard Edelinck created this engraving called "Flying Angel", and it resides in the esteemed Rijksmuseum. Here, the winged cherub dramatically unfurls a banner declaring 'Above the sun, truth'. This proclamation appears beneath a radiant, anthropomorphic sun and a mysterious tetragrammaton, symbols deeply rooted in religious and philosophical traditions, illuminating the dichotomy between earthly vanities and divine truth. Consider the motif of the sun itself. From ancient Egyptian sun-worship to its central role in Renaissance Neoplatonism, the sun has symbolized enlightenment and divine presence. Its human-like representation, however, complicates this symbolism, suggesting a more personal, relatable deity, a motif that finds echoes in earlier pagan traditions. This fusion reflects a broader cultural tendency to syncretize new beliefs with older, more deeply ingrained mythologies. The emotional power of the image resides in its appeal to our collective yearning for certainty in a world filled with ephemeral pleasures. The cyclic recurrence of such symbols underscores humanity’s ongoing quest for transcendent meaning, a quest that continually reshapes and reinvents the visual language of the soul.