art 101:

The “Angel of Death” was created by Evelyn De Morgan in 1890.  Evelyn Pickering, her born name, was born into an upper middle class.  She started drawing lessons when she was 15.  She eventually convinced her parnets to let her go to the Slade School of Art in 1873.  She did classical works, persuaded by the school, and eventually, by the influence of her uncle, began her own style of art.  She married the ceramicist in 1887 and lived in London.  She died in 1917. 

Not much is known about the creation of her piece “Angel of Death”.  Mostly that it was an oil painting part of a private collection.

However, I was intrigued by this piece; for several different reasons.  One, I love oil paintings. I find it amazing that someone can make something so realistic and detailed simply using paints.  To get the right color, blending, shades, etc. it takes someone very talented to be able to do that.  Second, I like art of this time period.  I like the romanticismof the 1800s.  A lot of the art was involved with people and I do photography and my favorite subject is people. 

The reason I picked “Angel of Death” because the subject of death is so mysterious and can have many interpretations.  In the painting, the only thing known is that the woman in the picture is being taking by this Angel of Death.  The only reason we know that is the kind of angel it is, is from the title.  Everything else is unknown.  We don’t know who the woman is, or why she is being taken.  We can make guesses from the background of the painting about where she was from, but other than that, we know very little.  Because of that, I am free to make my piece with my own interpretation. I have no real boundries with choosing this piece of art.