*Sacred Scripture* The Vision of Ezekiel – Raphael

This artwork by the Master Raphael shows Ezekiel’s vision of Yahweh being carried by four cherubim, who have the faces of man, cherub, lion, and eagle

Ez 1:4,5,6,10

4As I watched, a great stormwind came from the North,^* a large cloud with flashing fire, a bright glow all around it, and something like polished metal gleamed at the center of the fire.^d

5From within it figures in the likeness of four living creatures^* appeared. This is what they looked like:^e

6They were in human form, but each had four faces and four wings,^f

10^* Their faces were like this:^j each of the four had a human face, and on the right the face of a lion, and on the left, the face of an ox, and each had the face of an eagle.

https://bible.usccb.org/bible/ezekiel/1

In the thirtieth year, in the fourth month of the fifth day, the heavens were opened and I saw visions of God.

As a Renaissance artist Raphael (1483-1520) sought to combine Greek and Roman traditions with those of the Bible. His understanding of Yahweh was therefore influenced by the representation of the Roman god Jupiter. This highlights the problem any artist has in trying to portray God – every attempt is bound to be biased and partial, reflecting the conventions and assumptions of a particular time and place. We may feel that these sometimes come between us and God rather than enhancing our understanding. What Raphael does here is to use every resource at his command to reinforce the sense of glory of the divine majesty.

Ezekiel was one of the Jewish people taken captive and living as exiles in Babylon. There he had a series of visions in which the heavens were opened, and which form the basis of much subsequent understanding of the divine nature (including the book of Revelation). In this first vision an immense cloud in a windstorm was surrounded with brilliant light. The center was like a fire. There were four living creatures – an ox, a lion, an eagle and a man. A voice spoke to Ezekiel, calling him to a mission to his people. The power of the vision was such that Ezekiel never deviated from this calling.

Raphael has been careful both to study the biblical narrative in his picture and to adapt it in such a way that enhances the coherence and unity of his work. God moves above the firmament supported by playful cherubim and the four creatures (the ‘tetramorph’, later identified as the four evangelists). The six creatures together with the central figure (who represents God) form an almost perfect whole, solid yet moving and with spaces in their togetherness. The colors representing the glory of God are accentuated by the somber surrounding clouds and silhouetted wings, while the spaces between the interwoven figures provide the opportunity for that glory to shine through. The realism of the figures and their skin colors means that the whole is dominated by the yellow and gold of divinity.

The eyes of the divine representation in this vision focus on the diminutive figure of Ezekiel at the bottom left-hand corner of the picture. The contrasts of scale could hardly be greater without Ezekiel disappearing completely! The shaft of light in which he is caught is part of a landscape which is separate from the vision. It is as if there are two realities, a heavenly and earthly, linked only by that beam of light. In this way Raphael underlines his awareness that it is a vision, not an historical event: real and overwhelming to us and to Ezekiel, but one to which many of Ezekiel’s hearers are blind.

It is possible that Raphael’s depiction of this vision has done as much as the written word for many to convey the essence of the divine glory.

Divine Glory by Keith White