This drawing depicts Michael the Archangel. In the Summula Pictoria, I draw the archangels wearing liturgical dalmatics, an artistic convention that was common in the late Middle Ages, probably due to the influence of the mystery plays and their costuming. Michael wears his over a shirt of chail mail; he is often depicted as a warrior in armor. The handle of his sword is decorated with heads of the winged beings seen by Ezekiel.
Throughout the Summula Pictoria, I depict halos according to a system that I myself invented. Saints of the Old Testament have silver or lunar halos, whereas saints of the New Testament have golden or solar halos. For angels, and for anyone who is divinely inspired, I draw the outer ring blazing, with tongues of flame reaching upward.
In all drawings of the Summula, I use the translucent calfskin for artistic effect, drawing certain details on the reverse side. These appear more or less distinct depending on how much light is shining through the drawing. Here, those details include the archangel’s face and hands, the pattern on the dalmatic’s fabric, and the blue color of the wings.
Sacred artists, perhaps limited by their materials, have for centuries largely avoided the challenge of drawing non-incarnate beings in a distinctive way. For the most part, they have drawn or painted the figures representing God the Father and God the Holy Ghost, or those of angels, as though they were physically present.
My own practice is to draw figures representing the non-incarnate or a pre-incarnate God on the opposite side of the calfskin, so that their apparent bodies have a ghostly appearance, and are only fully visible when the drawing is held up to light. With angels, I draw the exposed faces, hands, and feet on the opposite side (and their clothing and hair on the front) to show that they have more in common with the created world than God, but still do not have bodies of flesh.
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The ornament in the drawing I based on several different sources. The patterns in the halo and on the orphreys of the dalmatic are knots, in the style of early medieval Northumbro-Irish art. The background is full of spirals and knots, like Greek key patterns but more intricate. The pattern on the dalmatic’s fabric was inspired by Islamic girih tiling, but based on different geometric shapes — squares and equilateral triangles rather than pentagons — that are more symbolically resonant in Christianity.
The outer border includes emblems representing faith (a cross), hope (and anchor), and charity (a heart), as well as the words QUIS UT DEUS (the Latin translation of the name Michael: Who Is Like Unto God?), spelled in orthogonal letters arranged in squares, in the same way that Arabic words written in square Kufic are arranged in Persian architectural ornament.
Most of the border is filled with pseudo-Arabic calligraphy. Late Medieval painters, especially in Italy, were fond of using this kind of pattern to decorate the halos of saints or the trims of the Virgin Mary’s robes. Presumably copied from Islamic textiles or metalwork, the inscriptions were usually gibberish; they reflected the Christian artists’ admiration of the calligraphy, considered independently of the words, and their desire to offer something so beautiful to God, in the service of their own religion.
In my drawings, these patterns are not gibberish, but rather cryptograms. The pseudo-Arabic border, the knots in the dalmatic orphreys, and the spirals in the background are all composed of units that correspond to Latin letters in substitution ciphers. The encrypted messages all relate to Michael the Archangel. Anyone who wises to decipher them can make use of these keys:
CIPHER KEY 1
CIPHER KEY 2
CIPHER KEY 3
Medium: Drawing, color ink on calfskin vellum
Dimensions: 10" × 15"
Year: 2019
Open-edition giclée prints of this drawing are available. You may use the buttons below to pay via PayPal, debit card, or credit card. Be sure to confirm the shipping address.
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Actual size art print: $145
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20" × 30" large print: $290
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200dpi digital download: $29
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See this page for additional ordering instructions and general information. If you want to pay via a check or money order, please e-mail me at danielmitsui@danielmitsui.com.
