Iconografías angélicas de los siglos XIX y XX en el Cimitero Acattolico de Roma: psicopompos, triunfantes, dolientes y seductores

Abstract

Traditionally it has been considered that the dual nature of angels, halfway between divinity and humanity, made them the most appropriate iconographic representations within the funerary context. Heirs of the marble sculptures that adorned the graves from the Renaissance, in the 19th century these effigies experienced a series of changes in their physical appearance that were closer and closer to the image that today we associate with contemporary cemeteries. This new iconography had a wide range of possibilities: psychopomps angels, triumphants angels, mourners angels... In this study we intend to draw an overview of the iconography present in the Cimitero Acattolico of Rome, one of the most unique places in the Eternal City due to the coexistence that was in it between the traditions of the various Protestant societies and the Catholic substrate in which they were immersed. The angels that adorn those graves also accuse this double influence, and serve as a perfect example of syncretism not only between religions but also between mentalities.