The Angel Warning Saint John Artist: Horatio Greenough (American, 1805–1852)

ca. 1839

American Paintings and Sculpture

By appointment, Wurtele Study Center

In this low-relief carving, Horatio Greenough portrays the New Testament episode in which John, author of the Book of Revelation, receives a spectacular vision from an angel, foretelling the Second Coming of Christ and the advent of a New Jerusalem. John kneels in worshipful awe, but the angel warns him to stop. Pointing upward, he tells John to worship God instead. The Harvard-educated Greenough was the earliest American artist to make sculpture his exclusive vocation and the first to seek formal training in Italy, where he spent most of his career.

Medium

Marble

Dimensions

21 1/2 × 23 1/4 × 2 1/4 in. (54.6 × 59.1 × 5.7 cm)

Credit Line

Bequest of Professor Edward E. Salisbury, B.A. 1832, M.A. 1835, LL.D. 1869

Accession Number

1919.14

Geography

Made in Florence, Italy

Culture

American

Period

19th century

Classification

Sculpture

Disclaimer

Note: This electronic record was created from historic documentation that does not necessarily reflect the Yale University Art Gallery’s complete or current knowledge about the object. Review and updating of records is ongoing.

Object copyright
No Copyright - United States
Additional information

Object/Work type

allegories, figures (representations), histories (visual works), human figures (visual works), literature (general genre), reliefs, religious art

Subject

kneeling

Technical metadata and APIs

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Open in Mirador

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