It was a beautiful day when we walked though Green-Wood Cemetery in Brooklyn. The cemetery was inviting in the warm sunshine, full of flowering trees and shrubs. As soon as we entered, I began noticing the angels.
I came around the corner of the cemetery entrance and saw this beautiful angel. She’s in the shadow in the top photo, but I wanted to show her location, with the brownstone building behind her and the vivid pink Azalea blossoms to her side.
Here’s another photo of that angel.
There were a few more angels close by. They were so appealing, I started photographing them.
Standing high atop a monument, this angel delicately holds something between her fingers. Maybe it’s a flower to be placed on the grave.
Wearing elegantly long wings, worn by time and the elements, this angel faces upward with eyes closed. While she’s posed to face the heavens, it seemed as if her face was turned up to catch the sun’s warm rays on this lovely spring day.
Check out this praying angel’s skirts. They look like they are being pushed behind her by a gentle breeze.
Many of the angels had trumpets in their hands or by their sides, as this angel does.
Seeing all of the different poses, clothing, hair styles, and accoutrements, I began to think about the artists who created these monuments. Were they given design requests or did they have creative license? Were there templates of some sort?
There are several styles of wings, such as the long elegant ones that I’ve mentioned, but even wings that are similar have unique designs. For example, the previous angel has leaves shaped into the tops of her wings.
The detail on this angel’s wings is wonderful.
I love the delicately placed foot on this sweet angel.
I’m not sure if this angel’s hand is raised in triumph or if she might have had something in that hand at one time, such as a staff or a trumpet.
We only explored one small corner of the cemetery. Photographing all of the angels in Green-Wood Cemetery would be a long project, an “eternal task,” as my husband put it. This may be part one of a series.
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