Item Details:

GABRIEL WEATHERVANE

MAKER UNKNOWN

AMERICAN FOLK ART, circa 1930

Gilded Zinc

Size: 34 x 31.25 x 1.75 in; 86.4 x 79.4 x 4.5 cm

Desirable trumpeting angel form, formerly adorning  an American church.

A familiar image of Gabriel has him blowing a trumpet blast to announce the resurrection of the dead at the end of time. However, though the Bible mentions a trumpet blast preceding the resurrection of the dead, it never specifies Gabriel as the trumpeter. Different passages state different things: the angels of the Son of Man (Matthew 24:31); the voice of the Son of God (John 5:25–29); God's trumpet (I Thessalonians 4:16); seven angels sounding a series of blasts (Revelation 8–11); or simply "a trumpet will sound" (I Corinthians 15:52). Likewise the early Christian Church Fathers do not mention Gabriel as a trumpeter; and in Jewish and Muslim traditions, Gabriel is again not identified as a trumpeter.

The earliest known identification of Gabriel as a trumpeter comes from the Hymn of the Armenian Saint Nerses Shnorhali, "for Protection in the Night":

The sound of Gabriel's trumpet on the last night, make us worthy to hear, and to stand on your right hand among the sheep with lanterns of inextinguishable light; to be like the five wise virgins, so that with the bridegroom in the bride chamber we, his spiritual brides may enter into glory.

In 1455, in Armenian art, there is an illustration in an Armenian manuscript showing Gabriel sounding his trumpet as the dead climb out of their graves.

Provenance: From the renown collection of the late Jay Johnson, premier Folk Art dealer, New York City from whom the current owner obtained the work