This panel was painted at the same time as the panel depicting the "The Temptation of Adam and Eve" by Masolino on the opposite wall. Masolino and Masaccio, were both prominent 15th-century Italian painters, and worked together on the Brancacci Chapel frescoes, offering a clear basis for comparison.
Cherubim Theme Pages
A class of celestial beings in Judaism and Christianity. They are thought to be those closest to God, his direct servants and bodyguards. Cherubim were set to guard the entrance to Eden to preven the return of Adam and Eve.
Adam and Eve are driven out of Eden by a Cherubim brandishing a sword. Detail of stained glass in St Anne's chapel Great Malvern Priory.
Part of the 'Magnificat' window at Great Malvern Priory. This image is of the Archangel Uriel, the face of which has been lost.
Uriel is the fourth of the Archangels after St Michael, Gabriel, and Raphael. However, he is not mentioned in the bible but in the Apocrypha texts where he is said to be one of the angels that will rule at the end of the world.
Detail of Angels by Henry Holiday for Powel & sons. Part of a stained glass window in Salisbury Cathedral on the subject of "Suffer the little children".
Detail of stained glass Angels by Henry Holiday for Powel & sons. Part of a window in Salisbury Cathedral on the subject of "Suffer the little children".
This window is by the firm of Shrigley and Hunt depicts six orders of angels.
The top register contains images of Seraphims, and Cherubims, the central image is the Archangel Gabriel as a female figure. The lower register has Virtues, Dominions, and Angels
This Salvator Mundi, in the cloisters of Gloucester Cathedral, is by John Hardman. The central figure has Cherubim peeking out from behind him. Two saints are on either side whilst Seraphim play musical instruments above.