Angel holding a pigeon statue

The angel holding a dove draws on one of the most overdetermined symbols in Christian iconography. The dove descended on Christ at the Jordan, it returned to Noah with the olive branch, it stands in countless paintings for the Holy Spirit, and in Renaissance and Baroque devotional images it nestles repeatedly in the hands of angels — the breath of God carried by his messengers. The pose softens a vast theological symbol into a simple, gentle gesture: a winged being holding a smaller winged being, both at peace.