The Ghent Altarpiece: Singing Angels (detail)

In the upper part of the polyptych there are two pictures depicting angels singing and playing music. Their ornamental clothes, painted with painstaking detail, and their natural appearence increase the power of this tremendous vision. Such a realistic rendering of the angelic choir means that in the fifteenth century there was a close proximity between popular view and actual lithurgical practice in the Netherlands, which played a leading role in the musical life of the period.

Suggested listening (streaming mp3, 4 minutes): César Franck: Panis angelicus