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Source Description
Dewing’s small, densely packed composition of four singing angels alludes to depictions of angels playing musical instruments found in 14th-century medieval manuscripts. Angels were traditionally shown playing stringed instruments, whose delicate tones were thought to lift the mind to spiritual matters. The harp, as depicted here, was the instrument most closely associated with heavenly music. With the continuous circling of halos and harps, Dewing suggested a hypnotic, celestial melody.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
134241
label
Gloria
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
134241
contentType
drawing
title
Gloria
description
Dewing’s small, densely packed composition of four singing angels alludes to depictions of angels playing musical instruments found in 14th-century medieval manuscripts. Angels were traditionally shown playing stringed instruments, whose delicate tones were thought to lift the mind to spiritual matters. The harp, as depicted here, was the instrument most closely associated with heavenly music. With the continuous circling of halos and harps, Dewing suggested a hypnotic, celestial melody.
date
1884
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q60781284
creators
3131
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 30.8 x 27.8 cm (12 1/8 x 10 15/16 in.); Image: 27 x 23 cm (10 5/8 x 9 1/16 in.)
cul
America
accession
1956.722
Source extras
tec
gouache over graphite
tombstone
Gloria, 1884. Thomas Wilmer Dewing (American, 1851–1938). Gouache over graphite; sheet: 30.8 x 27.8 cm (12 1/8 x 10 15/16 in.); image: 27 x 23 cm (10 5/8 x 9 1/16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, The Fanny Tewksbury King Collection, 1956.722
supportMaterials
description
beige wove paper
collection
DR - American 19th Century
inscriptions
inscription
signed, upper left, in graphite: T W Dewing / 1884; by artist, across bottom, in watercolor: gloria; verso, center, in graphite: [sTC?] [underlined]; 15 x 162 [underlined] / 165; center left, in graphite: 125 [underlined]
citations
citation
<em>Catalogue of the Second Exhibition: Water Colors and Pastels</em>. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1925.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 5, no. 49
citation
“A Check List. American Paintings and Water Colors of the Eighteenth, Nineteenth, and Early Twentieth Centuries in the Cleveland Museum of Art.” <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 60, no. 1 (January 1973): 21–35.
page_number
Mentioned: p. 25, no. 48
citation
Hobbs, Susan, and Barbara Dayer Gallati. <em>The Art of Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty Reconfigured.</em> Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1996.
page_number
Mentioned and Reproduced: p. 8, p. 13, pp. 97-98, p. 106, cat. no 7.
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art, Diane DeGrazia, and Carter E. Foster. <em>Master Drawings from the Cleveland Museum of Art.</em> Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art in association with Rizzoli International Publications, New York, 2000.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 212-13, p. 295; Reproduced: p. 213
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. “Themes and Variations: Works on paper from the museum's collection with a musical motif.” <em>Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em> 55, no. 1 (January/February 2015): Cover, 3-5.
page_number
Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 5
citation
Foster, Kathleen A. <em>American Watercolor in the Age of Homer and Sargent. </em>Philadelphia: Philadelphia Museum of Art in association with Yale University Press, 2017.
page_number
Reproduced: p. 70, fig. 125
citation
Hobbs, Susan. <em>Thomas Wilmer Dewing: Beauty into Art: A Catalogue Raisonné.</em> [Alexandria, VA]: The Thomas Wilmer Dewing Catalogue Raisonné; New Haven: in association with Yale University Press, 2018.
page_number
Mentioned & reproduced: p. 998-999, no. 567
creditline
The Fanny Tewksbury King Collection
updatedAt
2026-05-29 06:52:24.459000
sourceId
134241
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - American 19th Century
med
gouache over graphite
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
1e448329d889f2e4