Reliëf van een engel en een Korinthisch kapiteel van de San Marco in Venetië before 1884

Carl Heinrich Jacobi captured this relief of an angel and a Corinthian capital from San Marco in Venice through the art of lithography. The angel, a messenger of divine will, is depicted holding what appears to be an orb, symbolizing dominion or perhaps salvation. The Corinthian capital to its side, with its acanthus leaves, speaks to a classical architectural language revived during the Renaissance. These motifs echo across cultures and epochs; the angel figure, for instance, recalls the winged deities of antiquity, transmuted through Christianity. The orb, too, finds resonance in the globus cruciger, a symbol of earthly power under divine mandate, wielded by emperors and kings. Consider the psychological weight of these symbols: the angel offers solace, while the capital asserts order and permanence. It is through such enduring symbols that we glimpse humanity's ongoing dialogue with the sacred.