Ceiling Design: Angels (recto); Sketches of Angels (verso) n.d.

Giuseppe Nicola Nasini made this drawing of angels with pen and brown ink in Italy sometime in the late 17th or early 18th century. This study of angels, with its focus on the figures’ idealized anatomy and graceful poses, typifies the visual codes of the late Baroque. Nasini was part of a large network of artists employed to fill the churches and palaces of Europe with similarly grand and imposing images. Although on paper, this drawing was made in preparation for a fresco painting on a ceiling. The Catholic Church was the most important patron of the arts in Italy at this time and deployed such images to inspire religious feeling. By studying drawings like this alongside account books, letters, and other documents, we can learn much about the ways art was produced and consumed in the past, and the role it played in society.