The Virgin of Sorrows: Angel; one of nine surrounding compartments from the Virgin of Sorrows, now separated 1520 - 1582

Giorgio Ghisi created this print of an angel, a fragment of a larger work depicting the Virgin of Sorrows, during the Renaissance. The angel, kneeling with hands clasped in supplication, embodies grief. The image of a winged angel has roots stretching back to ancient Mesopotamia, where winged figures were divine messengers. We see it echoed in ancient Greece with Iris, the winged messenger of the gods. Here, in Ghisi’s work, the angel serves as a celestial witness to Mary's suffering, an emblem of divine empathy. Consider the angel's pose of grief. This gesture of mourning transcends cultures. The weight of sorrow is a universal language. It speaks to the collective human experience of loss, resonating across time and place, a primal echo in our shared memory. The angel embodies not just religious iconography but also the profound psychological weight of sorrow.