Skip to main content

Thurifer Angel

ca. 1520
Bernhard Strigel

Numerous thurifer angels − depicted with a thurible or censer like the acolyte during ceremonies – are to be found in the Bible and in religious iconography as intercessors between God and man. This one, painted by the Bernhard Strigel, one of the most important masters of the transitional period between the Gothic and the Renaissance, is shown in an attitude of adoration with finely painted smoke rising towards Heaven. Inherited from the religions of pagan Antiquity, where its smoke was already a gift from mankind to the gods, incense became in the Christian liturgy, the material form of the believers’ prayers rising to God.

Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi/ Photo: APF

Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi/ Photo: APF

Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi/ Photo: APF

Department of Culture and Tourism - Abu Dhabi/ Photo: APF

Artist: Bernhard Strigel
Title: Thurifer Angel
Geography: Swabia, Germany
Date: ca. 1520
Medium: oil on wood
Classification: graphic arts (drawing, painting, engraving, calligraphy)
Dimensions: 65.5 x 78.6 cm
Inventory number: LAD 2009.026
Contact for images: [email protected]
Permalink: https://www.louvreabudhabi.ae/en/Explore/online-collection/bernhard-strigel
Mobile View None For an optimal experience please
rotate your device to portrait mode