#gabriel statue

[fuckyeahgoodomens]

[vidavalor]

Hello! Do you know if Gabriel's statue is like a work of art, too? Thank you!

Hi there 💕Yes, it is. The Gabriel Statue is a take off on Feratta's "Angel with The Cross" statue from the Ponte Sant'Angelo Bridge in Rome. When I show you the real statue below, if you haven't seen it before, you'll also get a laugh over Crowley's love of The Gabriel Statue in a whole new way.

As you look, note the significance of the main difference between them: Feratta's cross-carrying angel's head is angled to be focused on the cross. He's gazing at it with a disturbing amount of yay and that little smile... versus the burdened Gabriel carrying the cross stiffly and looking straight ahead with an expression of total misery.

Also note, though, the eerily familiar face on the real, original statue that inspired Gabriel's in Good Omens...

I wonder if Crowley ever goes to Rome to stare at it, marveling at his own beauty. 😉😂

[illiophop]

GO and Statue Significance

Anyone noticed the statues? Three in particular, which take center stage quite literally in Seasons 1 & 2. We have:

Crowley and his "wrestling" demon and angel, which had pride of place in his flat.

Gabriel's graveyard statue portrait

Aziraphale's marble bust

Because nothing in the set seems accidental and because the statues are so lovingly and prominently displayed, I think it's worth lavishing some attention on them and think about why the characters chose them/like them/display them. This is gonna get academic, for which I'm sorry/not sorry!

Some background on what we know about each statue, with much thanks to @fuckyeahgoodomens for lots of info regarding #1 and #3 statue origins. The wrestling demon and angel is an original work, based upon the Uffizi statue "The Wrestlers." The original is dated to the age of Augustus after a Greek original, which depicted two men engaging in an Olympic sport called Pankration which is described as "an empty-hand submission sport with scarcely any rules." (Make of that what you will).

Gabriel's statue is particularly fascinating. Typical monumental-sized angel statuary with a large cross either has the cross placed above, and the angel below, carrying it, or the angel crouching while embracing the cross. In either composition, it is the cross which is the focal point. In Gabriel's statue, we see the Cross in a non-dominant position, whereas Gabriel's face is the focal point. Also important to note - in traditional angelic statuary, Gabriel is usually depicted as a herald with a horn, and not with a cross at all.

Aziraphale's statue bust original is located in the Louvre, and is called "The Victorious Athlete." It dates from around the time of Crowley's statue, perhaps a century or so later. It is also Roman and it is most likely an idealized figure, not a Greek portrait. Greek-style hair and features came back into fashion in the Roman first century AD, when the Emperor Hadrian fell in love with a Greek youth, Antinous.

My theory is that each statue represents how its owner sees themself and their purpose. In other words, an allegory that allows us to understand the events of S6 and each respective character's actions.

Crowley: Crowley's statue elevates the beauty of eternal tension between dark and light. It's a spiritual and also a very physical, fleshly beauty. More tension. There is definitely sexuality in that piece as well (a few of us have noticed, including Neil!) Each figure pushes the other to their best effort and is, in turn, shown at its best. And each figure is defined by its engagement with the other.

Gabriel: The statue is a clear portrait, unlike the other two (highly unusual for angelic statuary). The whole composition serves to allow the viewer to look, and admire, Gabriel's face. The hope of a resurrection of the dead, as represented by the cross, is completely sublimated to angel portraiture! Pretty extreme stuff for a graveyard, tbh, and reconciles nicely with Gabriel's complete disinterest with the Second Coming.

Aziraphale: His bust is meant to serve as an idealization and embodiment of qualities of the ancient athlete, summed up in the word arete, a term describing "a maximum of ability and potency for action (optimum potentiae); a man’s effectiveness and skill in goodness." Not making this up, btw, this is a widely accepted view of why such idealized statuary was created to represent ancient Olympic athletes - they were literally offerings dedicated to Gods at sanctuaries in Olympia, Delphi and elsewhere.

Such arete encompasses Aziraphale's goal and purpose, and it makes sense that the bust would be displayed so prominently in his bookshop. In S1, it dangled a medallion presented to him from Heaven in 1800. It is interesting that Aziraphale's medallion is missing from the bust in S2 - has it been stripped by Heaven after the events of S1?

Because Crowley has been stripped of his flat, we have no idea what happened to his wrestling angels statue but we no longer have it in S2 as an allegory to access and reference. Is this because he has evolved in his self-definition and that of his relationship with Aziraphale? We cannot know until we have an opportunity to see his flat again, and whether it is still in place.

We know that Gabriel uses his statue as narcissistic reinforcement and a date spot. With his escape from earth, we expect that it will retain little value to him, shed as a narcissist sheds all supply once it is of no use.

But what has happened to Aziraphale's bust in S2 E6? We see Crowley methodically put everything back together exactly as it was after the Ball/Demon incursion, but we don't see the bust go back in place. What is the significance to its absence in the Kiss scene, and the following one with Metatron? I don't know, but I wonder if this is not foreshadowing to indicate that Aziraphale's self-conception is going to be radically altered as a result of his going to heaven. He is not going to come back the same angel, and his allegory is going to have to change with him!