Angel riding the bike statue

An angel on a bicycle is a thoroughly modern reimagining of a very ancient idea: the angel as swift messenger. In ancient and medieval art the wings of angels were enough to suggest their speed; in the twentieth century, sculptors and illustrators began to lend them the vehicles of contemporary life, with all the humour and tenderness that comes from picturing the eternal at home in the everyday. The bicycle angel descends from this playful tradition — a guardian who has chosen the most companionable means of transport.