On the Wings…
It’s easy to see why the wings of birds were appropriated for heavenly messengers in early religious art. Their combination of delicacy and strength — of grace and sinewy power — is mesmerizing. There were no wings donned by angels in the earliest Christian art, however. Beginning in the 4th Century, halos were replaced with wings to represent heavenly figures, and any creature of the divine. But it was during the Renaissance and Baroque periods when the winged angelic messenger really took root in the artistic and cultural mindset.
Here, two separate cormorants stretch their wings to dry after fishing in the South Florida wetlands bordering the Everglades. Similar to the cormorant-like anhingas, their feathers don’t possess the waterproofing oil of other seabirds, and they must dry their feathers after each fishing trip.
Cormorant Wings, Florida Wetlands
Cormorant Wings, Florida Wetlands
Tintoretto’s Annunciation Angel
FeyGirl
Serenity Spell 